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OTHER BOOKS BY THE SAME AUTHOK.
Jit
The Claim Jumpers, The Westerners, The Blazed Trail, Blazed
Trail Stories, The Magic Forest, Conjuror's House, The Silent
Places, The Forest, The Mountains, Arizona Nights, The
Pass, Camp and Trail, The Riverman, The Cabin,
The Adventures of Bobby Orde, The
Rules of the Game, The Sign at Six,
Tht Land of Footprints
(With Samuel Hopkins Adam*)
The Mystery
AFRICAN CAMPFIRES
BY
STEWART EDWARD WHITE, F. R. G. S.
ILLUSTRATED FROM PHOTOGRAPHS
Garden City New YorkDOUBLEDAY, PAGE & COMPANY
1913
Copyright, 1913, by
DOUBLEDAY, PaGE & COMPANY
AU rights reserved, including that oftranslation intoforeign languages,
indtiding the Scandinavian
ur
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Part I — To the Island of WarCHAPTEK PAGE
I. The Open Door 3
II. The Farewell ii
III. Port Said i6
IV. Suez 25
V. The Red Sea 31
VI. Aden 42
VII. The Indian Ocean 49VIII. Mombasa 59
Part II — The Shimba Hills
IX. A Tropical Jungle 77X. The Sable 89XL A March Along the Coast ... 96XII. The Fire 104
Part III — Nairobi
XIII. Up from the Coast . . . . . 113
XIV. A Fiat Town 119
V
679414
TABLE OF CONTENTSCBAPTEX nU3
XV. People 125
XVI. Recruiting 134
Part IV— A Lion Hunt on Kapiti
XVII. An Ostrich Farm at Machakos . 143
XVIII. The First Lioness 151
XIX. The Dogs 156
XX. Bondoni i6i
XXI. Riding the Plains 164
XXII. The Second Lioness 176
XXIII. The Big Lion i8l
XXIV. The Fifteen Lions 186
Part V— The Tsavo River
XXV. Voi 193
XXVI. The Fringe-Eared Oryx . . . 199XXVII. Across the Serengetti .... 206
XXVIII. Down the River 214
XXIX. The Lesser Kudu 225
XXX. Adventures by the Way . . .232XXXI. The Lost Safari 239
XXXII. The Babu 247
Part VI — In Masailand
XXXIII. Over the Likipia Escarpment . 255
XXXIV. To the Kedong 267
vi
TABLE OF CONTENTSCHAPTER
XXXV. The Transport Rider.
XXXVI. Across the Thirst ....XXXVII. The Southern Guaso Nyero
XXXVIII. The Lower Benches ....XXXIX. Notes on the Masai ....
XL. Through the Enchanted Forest .
XLI. Naiokotoku
XLII. Scouting in the Elephant Forest
XLIII. The Topi CampXLIV. The Unknown Land ....XLV. The Roan
XLVI. The Greater Kudu ....XLVII. The Magic Portals Close . .
XLVIII. The Last Trek
270
278
286
293
310
326
331
336
344
352
356
366
372
375
vu
ILLUSTRATIONS
Trophy Room of the author . . FrontispieceFACING PAGE
"Camels laden with stone and in convoy of
white-clad figures" 22
The control station 23
"Innumerable rowboats swarmed down, filled
with eager salesmen of curios and ostrich
plumes " 26
Dhow in the Red Sea 27
Another View of the Trophy Room ... 42
"We waited patiently to see the camels slung
aboard by the crane" 43
Vasco da Gama Street, the principal thorough-
fare of Mombaso 60
The trolley car of Mombaso 60
In the ivory market of Mombasa ... 61
The labour of Africa is carried forward by song 61
Old Portuguese fort at Mombasa .... 68
In the Arab quarter of Mombasa. ... 68
In the Swahili quarter of Mombasa ... 69
The entire water supply of Mombasa is drawn
from numberless picturesque wells . . 69
iz
ILLUSTRATIONSVACING PAGE
The lazy Boabab Tree 76
In the native quarter of Mombasa . . . yj
Swahili women at Mombasa 86
The slope fell gently away through a coconut
grove 87
The camp beneath the mangoes .... 87
The Sable 90
"From it led a narrow path through the
thicket" 91
"The hotel manager came forward with the
offer of a gasoline launch, which we gladly
accepted" 9^
"Then suddenly we found ourselves in a story-
book, tropical paradise" 93
Masai women at a station of the Uganda Rail-
road 116
Train on the Uganda Railway 116
"Inside a fence— before the low, stone-built,
wide-verandahed hotel" 117
" Savages from the jungle untouched by civili-
zation— wander the streets unabashed" 124
Convicts marching into Nairobi in charge of
Soudanese . . . .^ 125
"But the native is the joy, and the never-
ceasing delight" ^^8
In the bazaar at Nairobi. Kikuyus bargaining 128
X
ILLUSTRATIONS
FACING PACE
"Kapiti goes on over the edge of the world to
unknown, unguessed regions, rolling and
troubled like a sea" 129
"The ostriches are kept in corrals" . . . 144
"The first lioness, the Hills and Captain Duirs"
145
"They closed in and began to worry the nearly
lifeless carcass " 168
Spying for lions from the kopjes . . . 169
"Kongoni" 202
The Topi 203
The desert of the Serengetti 216
"In the river jungle" 217
The Tsavo River below the junction. . . 217
The Lesser Kudu 228
Bushbuck— a very shy bush-dwelling animal.
This photograph is most unusual . . 229
"Each day the pinnacles over the way changed
slightly their compass directions " . . . 248
Left to right— Timothy, Abba AH, Leyeye,
Mohamet 249
Cuninghame 262
Crossing the Southern Guaso Narok . . . 263
Kingangui 280
Kimau 280
"From it we looked down into the deep gorge
of the Southern Guaso Nyero" .... 281
zi
ILLUSTRATIONS
rACIHG PACK
The Eland 288
Cape Buffalo 288
The Fourth Bench 289
The Valley of Lengeetoto 304
Cheetah 304
Our camp at the Narossara 305
Our camp in Lengeetoto 305
Illustrating the heavy iron jewellery . . . 310
Unmarried woman with goatskin robe 310
"These low-rounded huts in shape like a loaf
of bread" 31I
"Upward of a thousand head in charge of two
old women on foot" 314
"They visited camp freely, and would sit
down for a good lively afternoon of joking" 315
Warriors 324
"The southern branch of the race — are very
fine physically" 324
Masai men and women 325
"In the southern districts the warriors wear
two single black ostrich feathers" . . 325
"The girl in the middle ground has painted her
face white to indicate travel" . . 332
When moving the villages they take with them
only the wicker doors 332
Maiai with headdress of lion's mane . . 333
ILLUSTRATIONS
TACINO PAOE
A neophyte with headdress of small bird skins 333
The El-morani is an imposing figure . . . 340
Masai El-morani, or warrior 340
Construction of V.'s boma 341
"I offered a half rupee as a prize for an archery
competition" 348
Naiokotuku and one of his sons .... 349
Our southernmost camp. From this point we
turned back 352" We called the Masai and Wanderobo before
us" 353
A present from Naiokotuku 353
The Roan 360
"It was almost exactly like the sage-brush
deserts" 361
"In the Elephant country" 368
The Greater Kudu 369
AFRICAN CAMP FIRES
THE OPEN DOOR
THERE are many interesting hotels scattered
about the world, with a few of which I amacquainted and with a great many of which I amnot. Of course all hotels are interesting, from one
point of view or another. In fact the surest way to
fix an audience's attention is to introduce your hero,
or to display your opening chorus in the lobby or
along the fagade of a hotel. The life, the movement
and colour, the shifting individualities, the pretence,
the bluff, the self-consciousness, the independence,
the ennui, the darting or lounging servants, the very
fact that of those before your eyes seven out of
ten are drawn from distant and scattered places,
are sufficient in themselves to invest the smallest
hostelry with glamour. It is not of this general
interest that I would now speak. Nor is it myintention at present to glance at the hotels wherein
3
AFRICAN CAMP FIRES
"quaintness" is specialized, whether intentionally
or no. There are thousands of them; and all of
them well worth the discriminating traveller's
attention. Concerning some of them — as the old
inns at Dives-sur-mer and at Mont St. Michel—whole books have been written. These depend for
their charm on a mingled gift of the unusual and the
picturesque. There are, as I have said, thousands
of them; and of their cataloguing, should one embark
on so wide a sea, there could be no end. And,
again, I must for convenience exclude the altogether
charming places like the Tour d'Argent of Paris,
Simpsons of the Strand,* and a dozen others that
will spring to every traveller's memory, where the
personality of the host, or of a chef, or even a waiter,
is at once a magnet for the attraction of visitors and
a reward for their coming. These too are many.
In the interest to which I would draw attention,
the hotel as a building or as an institution has little
part. It is indeed a fagade, a mise en scene before
which play the actors that attract our attention and
applause. The set may be as modernly elaborate
as Peacock Alley of the Waldorf or the templed
lobby of the St. Francis; or it may present the
severe and Elizabethan simplicity of the stone-paved
veranda of the Norfolk at Nairobi— the matter is
*In old days before the "improvements."
4
THE OPEN DOORquite Inessential to the spectator. His appreciation
is only slightly and indirectly' influenced by these
things. Sunk in his arm-chair— of velvet or of
canvas — he puffs hard and silently at his cigar,
watching and listening as the pageant and the
conversation eddy by.
Of such hotels I number that gaudy and poly-
syllabic hostelry the Grand Hotel du Louvre et de
la Paix at Marseilles. I am indifferent to the facts
that it is situated on that fine thoroughfare, the
Rue de Cannebiere, which the proud and untravelled
native devoutly believes to be the finest street in
the world; that it possesses a dining-room of gilded
and painted repousse work so elaborate and won-
derful that it surely must be intended to represent
a tinsmith's dream of heaven; that its concierge is
the most impressive human being on earth except
Ludwig Von Kampf, whom I have never seen;
that its head waiter is sadder and more elderly
and forgiving than any other head waiter; and that
its hushed and cathedral atmosphere has been
undisturbed through immemorial years. That is
to be expected; and elsewhere to be duplicated in
greater or lesser degree. Nor in the lofty courtyard,
or the equally lofty halls and reading rooms, is there
ever much bustle and movement. People sit
quietly, or move with circumspection. Servants
S
AFRICAN CAMP FIRES
glide. The fall of a book or teaspoon, the sudden
closing of a door, are events to be remarked. Once
a day, however, a huge gong sounds, the glass doors
of the inner courtyard are thrown open with a
flourish, and enter the huge 'bus fairly among those
peacefully sitting at the tables, horses' hoofs striking
fire, long lash cracking volleys, wheels roaring amid
hollow reverberations. From the interior of this
'bus emerge people; and from the top, by means of a
strangely constructed hooked ladder, are descended
boxes and trunks and appurtenances of various
sorts. In these people and in these boxes, trunks,
and appurtenances are the real interest of the Grand
Hotel du Louvre et de la Paix of the marvellous
Rue Cannebiere of Marseilles.
For at Marseilles land ships, many ships, from all
the scattered ends of the earth; and from Marseilles
depart trains for the North, where is home, or the
way home, for many peoples. And since the arrival
of ships is uncertain, and the departure of trains
fixed, it follows that everybody descends for a little
or greater period at the Grand Hotel du Louvre et
de la Paix.
They come lean and quiet and a little yellow from
hard climates, with the names of strange places on
their lips, and they speak familiarly of far-oflF things.
Their clothes are generally of ancient cut, and the
6
THE OPEN DOOR
wrinkles and camphor aroma of a long packing
away are yet discernible. Often they are still
wearing sun helmets or double terai hats pending a
descent on a Piccadilly hatter two days hence.
They move slowly and languidly; the ordinary
piercing and dominant English enunciation has
fallen to modulation; their eyes, while observant and
alert, look tired. It is as though the far countries
have sucked something from the pith of them in
exchange for great experiences that nevertheless
seem of little value; as though these men, having met
at last face to face the ultimate of what the earth has
to offer in the way of danger, hardship, difficulty and
the things that try men's souls, having unexpectedly
found them all to fall short of both the importance
and the final significance with which human-kind
has always invested them, were now just a little
at a loss. Therefore they stretch their long, lean
frames in the wicker chairs, they sip the long
drinks at their elbows, puff slowly at their long, lean
cheroots, and talk spasmodically in short sentences.
Of quite a different type are those going out—young fellows full of northern health and energy,
full of the eagerness of anticipation, full of romance
skilfully concealed, self-certain, authoritative, clear
voiced. Their exit from the 'bus Is followed by a
rain of Jiold-alls, bags, new tin boxes, new gun cases,
7
AFRICAN CAMP FIRES
all lettered freshly— an enormous kit doomed to
diminution. They overflow the place, ebb toward
their respective rooms; return scrubbed and ruddy,
correctly clad, correctly unconscious of everybody
else; sink into more wicker chairs. The quiet brown
and yellow men continue to puff on their cheroots,
quite eclipsed. After a time one of them picks up
his battered old sun helmet and goes out into the
street. The eyes of the newcomers follow him.
They fall silent; and their eyes, under cover of
pulled moustache, furtively glance toward the lean
man's companions. Then on that office falls a
great silence, broken only by the occasional rare
remarks of the quiet men with the cheroots. The
youngsters are listening with all their ears, though
from their appearance no one would suspect that
fact. Not a syllable escapes them. These quiet
men have been there, they have seen with their owneyes, their lightest word is saturated with the
mystery and romance of the unknown. Their easy,
matter-of-fact, everyday knowledge is richly won-
derful. It would seem natural for these young-
young men to question these old-young men of
that which they desire so ardently to know; but
that isn't done, you know. So they sit tight, and
pretend they are not listening, and feast their ears
on the wonderful syllables — Ankobur, Kabul,
8
THE OPEN DOOR
Peshawur, Annam, Nyassaland, Kerman, Serengetti,
Tanganyika and many others. On these beautiful
syllables must their imaginations feed, for that which
is told is as nothing at all. Adventure there is none,
romance there is none, mention of high emprise
there is none. Adventure, romance, high emprise
have to these men somehow lost their importance.
Perhaps such things have been to them too common— as well mention the morning egg. Perhaps they
have found that there is no genuine adventure, no
real romance except over the edge of the world where
the rainbow stoops.
The 'bus rattles in and rattles out again. It takes
the fresh-faced young men down past the inner
harbour to where lie the tall ships waiting. They
and their cargo of exuberance, of hope, of energy,
of thirst for the bubble adventure, the rainbow
romance, sail away to where these wares have a
market. And the quiet men glide away to the north.
Their wares have been marketed. The sleepy,
fierce, passionate, sunny lands have taken all they
had to bring. And have given in exchange?
Indifference, ill-health, a profound realization that
the length of days are as nothing at all, a supreme
agnosticism as to the ultimate value of anything
that a single man can do, a sublime faith that it
must be done, the power to concentrate, patience
9
AFRICAN CAMP FIRES
illimitable, contempt for danger, disregard of death,
the intention to live, a final, weary estimate of the
fact that mere things are as unimportant here as
there, no matter how quaintly or fantastically they
are dressed or named, and a corresponding emptiness
of anticipation for the future— these items are only
a random few of the price given by the ancient lands
for that which the northern races bring to them.
What other alchemical changes have been wrought
only these lean and weary men could know— if they
dared look so far within themselves. And even if
they dared, they would not tell.
xo
II
THE FAREWELL
WE BOARDED ship filled witn a great, and
what seemed to us an unappeasable, curiosity
as to what we were going to see. It was not a very big
ship, in spite of the grandiloquent descriptions in the
advertisements, or the lithograph wherein she cut
grandly and evenly through huge waves to the mani-
fest discomfiture of infinitesimal sailing craft bobbing
alongside. She was manned entirely by Germans.
The room stewards waited at table, cleaned the
public saloons, kept the library, rustled the baggage,
and played in the band. That is why we took our
music between meals. Our staterooms were very
tiny indeed. Each was provided with an electric
fan; a totally inadequate and rather aggravating
electric fan once we had entered the Red Sea. Just
at this moment we paid it little attention, for we
were still in full enjoyment of sunny France where,
in our own experience, it had rained two months
steadily. Indeed, at this moment it was raining;
raining a steady, cold, sodden drizzle that had not
II
AFRICAN CAMP FIRES
even the grace to pick out the surface of the harbour
in the jolly dancing staccato that goes far to lend
attraction to a genuinely earnest rainstorm.
Down the long quai splashed cabs and omnibuses,
their drivers glistening in wet capes, to discharge
under the open shed at the end various hasty indi-
viduals who marshalled long lines of porters with
astonishing impedimenta and drove them up the
gangplank. A half-dozen roughs lounged aimlessly.
A little bent old woman with a shawl over her head
searched here and there. Occasionally she would
find a twisted splinter of wood torn from the piles
by a hawser, or gouged from the planking by heavy
freight, or kicked from the floor by the hoofs of horses.
This she deposited carefully in a small covered
market basket. She was entirely intent on this
minute and rather pathetic task, quite unattending
the greatness ^of the ship, or the many people the
great hulk swallowed or spat forth.
Near us against the rail leaned a dark-haired
young Englishman whom later every man on that
many-nationed ship came to recognize and to avoid
as an insufferable bore. Now, however, the angel
of good inspiration stooped to him. He tossed a
copper two-sou piece down to the bent old woman.
She heard the clink of the fall, and looked up bewil-
dered. One of the waterside roughs slouched for-
12
THE FAREWELL
ward. The Englishman shouted a warning and a
threat, indicating in pantomime for whom the coin
was intended. To our surprise that evil-looking
wharf rat smiled and waved his hand reassuringly;
then took the old woman by the arm to show her
where the coin had fallen. She hobbled to it with
a haste eloquent of the horrible Marseillaise poverty-
stricken alleys, picked it up joyously, turned —and with a delightful grace kissed her finger-tips
toward the ship.
Apparently we all of us had a few remaining
French coins; and certainly we were all grateful to
the young Englishman for his happy thought.
The sous descended as fast as the woman could get
to where they fell. So numerous were they that
she had no time to express her gratitude except in
broken snatches of gesture. In interrupted attitudes
of the most complete thanksgiving. The day of
miracles for her had come; and from the humble
poverty that valued tiny and infrequent splinters of
wood she had suddenly come into great wealth.
Everybody was laughing, but In a very kindly sort
of way, it seemed to me; and the very wharf rats and
gamins, wolfish and fierce in their everyday life of
the waterfront, seemed to take a genuine pleasure
in pointing out to her the resting place of those her
dim old eyes had not seen. Silver pieces followed.
13
AFRICAN CAMP FIRES
These were too wonderful. She grew more and more
excited, until several of the passengers leaning over
the rail began to murmur warningly, fearing harm.
After picking up each of these silver pieces, she
bowed and gestured very gracefully, waving both
hands outward, lifting eyes and hands to heaven,
kissing her fingers, trying by every means in her
power to express the dazzling wonder and joy that
this unexpected marvel was bringing her. Whenshe had done all these things many times, she hugged
herself ecstatically. A very well-dressed and pros-
perous-looking Frenchman standing near seemed to
be a little afraid she might hug him. His fear had,
perhaps, some grounds, for she shook hands with
everybody all around, and showed them her wealth
in her kerchief, explaining eagerly, the tears running
down her face.
Now the gangplank was drawn aboard, and the
band struck up the usual lively air. At the first
notes the old woman executed a few feeble little jig
steps in sheer exuberance. Then the solemnity of
the situation sobered her. Her great, wealthy,
powerful, kind friends were departing on their long
voyage over mysterious seas. Again and again,
very earnestly, she repeated the graceful, slow
pantomime— the wave of the arms outward, the eyes
raised to heaven, the hands clasped finally over her
14
THE FAREWELL
head. As the brown strip of water silently widened
between us it was strangely like a stage scene— the
roofed sheds of the quai, the motionless groups, the
central figure of the old woman depicting emotion.
Suddenly she dropped her hands and hobbled
away at a great rate, disappearing finally into the
maze of the street beyond. Concluding that she
had decided to get quickly home with her great
treasure, we commended her discretion and gave
our attention to other things.
The drizzle fell uninterruptedly. We had edged
sidewise the requisite distance, and were now gather-
ing headway in our long voyage. The quai was
beginning to recede and to diminish. Back from the
street hastened the figure of the little old woman.
She carried a large white cloth, of which she had
evidently been in quest. This she unfolded and
waved vigorously with both hands. Until we had
passed quite from sight she stood there signalling her
farewell. Long after we were beyond distinguishing
her figure we could catch the flutter of white. Thus
that ship's company, embarking each on his Great
Adventure, far from home and friends, received his
farewell, a very genuine farewell, from one poor old
woman. B. ventured the opinion that it was the
best thing we had bought with our French money.
IS
Ill
PORT SAID
THE time of times to approach Port Said is just
at the fall of dusk. Then the sea lies in opal-
escent patches, and the low shores fade away into
the gathering night. Slanting masts and yards of
the dhows silhouette against a sky of the deepest
translucent green; and the heroic statue of De Les-
seps standing forever at the Gateway he opened,
points always to the mysterious East.
The rhythmical, accustomed chug of the engines
had fallen to quarter speed, leaving an uncanny
stillness throughout the ship. Silently we slipped
between the long piers, drew up on the waterside
town, seized the buoy, and came to rest. All around
us lay other ships of all sizes, motionless on the inky
water. The reflections from their lights seemed to
be thrust into the depths, like stilts; and the few
lights from the town reflected shiveringly across.
Along the waterfront all was dark and silent. Wecaught the loom of buildings; and behind them a
dull glow as from a fire, and guessed tall minar-
i6
PORT SAID
ets, and heard the rising and falling of chanting.
Numerous small boats hovered near, floating in and
out of the patches of light we ourselves cast, waiting
for permission to swarm at the gangplank for our
patronage.
We went ashore, passed through a wicket gate, and
across the dark buildings to the heart of the town,
whence came the dull glow and the sounds of people.
Here were two streets running across one another,
both brilliantly lighted, both thronged, both lined
with little shops. In the latter one could buy any-
thing, in any language, with any money. Wesaw cheap straw hats made In Germany hung
side by side with gorgeous and beautiful stuffs from
the orient; shoddy European garments and Eastern
jewels; cheap celluloid combs and curious em-
broideries. The crowd of passersby in the streets
were compounded in the same curiously mixed
fashion; a few Europeans, generally In white, and
then a variety of Arabs, Egyptians, Somalis, Berbers,
East Indians and the like, each in his own gaudy or
graceful costume. It speaks well for the accuracy
of feeling, anyway, of our various "Midways,"
Pikes," and the like of our world's expositions that
the streets of Port Said looked like Midways raised
to the °th power. Along them we sauntered with
a pleasing feeling of self-importance. On all sides
17
AFRICAN CAMP FIRES
we were gently and humbly besought— by the shop-
keepers, by the sidewalk vendors, by would-be
guides, by fortune tellers, by jugglers, by magicians;
all soft-voiced and respectful; all yielding as water
to rebuff, but as quick as water to glide back again.
The vendors were of the colours of the rainbow, and
were heavily hung with long necklaces of coral
or amber, with scarves, with strings of silver coins,
with sequinned veils and silks, girt with many dirks
and knives, furnished out in concealed pockets with
scarabs, bracelets, sandal-wood boxes or anything
else under the broad canopy of heaven one might
or might not desire. Their voices were soft and
pleasing, their eyes had the beseeching quality of a
good dog's, their anxious and deprecating faces were
ready at the slightest encouragement to break out
into the friendliest and most intimate of smiles.
Wherever we went we were accompanied by a retinue
straight out of the Arabian Nights, patiently await-
ing the moment when we should tire; should seek
out the table of a sidewalk cafe; and should, in our
relaxed mood, be ready to unbend to our royal
purchases.
At that moment we were too much interested in
the town itself. T e tiny shops with their smil-
ing and insinuating oriental keepers were fascinat-
ing in their displays of carved woods, jewellery,
i8
PORT SAID
perfumes, silks, tapestries, silversmith's work, os-
trich feathers and the like. Either side the main
street lay long, narrow, dark alleys in which flared
single lights, across which flitted mysterious, long,
robed figures, from which floated stray snatches of
music either palpitatingly barbaric or ridiculously
modern. There the authority of the straight sol-
dierly looking Soudanese policemen ceased; and it
was not safe to wander unarmed or alone.
Besides these motley variegations of the East and
West, the main feature of the town was the street
car. It was an open-air structure of spacious
dimensions, as though benches and a canopy had
been erected rather haphazard on a small dancing
platform. The track is absurdly narrow in gauge;
and as a consequence the edifice swayed and swung
from side to side. A single mule was attached to it
loosely by about ten feet of rope. It was driven
by a gaudy ragamuffin in a turban. Various other
gaudy ragamuffins lounged largely and picturesquely
on the widely spaced benches. Whence it came or
whither it went I do not know. Its orbit swung
into the main street, turned a corner and disap-
peared. Apparently Europeans did not patronize
this picturesque wreck, but drove elegantly but
mysteriously in small open cabs conducted by to-
tally incongruous turbaned drivers.
19
AFRICAN CAMP FIRES
We ended finally at an imposing corner hotel
where we dined by an open window just above the
level of the street. A dozen upturned faces besought
us silently during the meal. At a glance of even
the mildest interest a dozen long, brown arms thrust
the spoils of the East upon our consideration. With
us sat a large benign Swedish professor whose erudi-
tion was encyclopaedic, but whose kindly humanity
was greater. Uttering deep, cavernous chuckles the
Professor bargained. A red coral necklace for the
moment was the matter of interest. The Professor
inspected it carefully, and handed it back.
"I doubt if id iss coral," said he simply.
The present owner of the beads went frantic with
rapid-fire proof and vociferation. With the swift-
ness and precision of much repetition he fished out
a match, struck it, applied the flame to the alleged
coral, and blew out the match; cast the necklace
on the pavement, produced mysteriously a small
hammer, and with it proceeded madly to pound
the beads. Evidently he was accustomed to being
doubted, and carried his materials for proof around
with him. Then, in one motion, the hammer dis-
appeared; the beads were snatched up, and again
offered, unharmed, for inspection.
"Are those good tests for genuineness.?" we asked
the Professor, aside.
20
PORT SAID
"As to that," he replied regretfully, " I do not
know. I know of coral only that is the hard cal-
careous skeleton of the marine coelenterate polyps;
and that this red coral iss called of a sclerobasic
group; and other facts of the kind; but I do not know
if it iss supposed to resist impact and heat. Pos-
sibly," he ended shrewdly, "it is the common imita-
tion which does not resist impact and heat. At any
rate they are pretty. How much?" he demanded
of the vendor, a bright-eyed Egyptian waiting pa-
tiently until our conference should cease.
"Twenty shillings," he replied promptly.
The Professor shook with one of his cavernous
chuckles.
"Too much," he observed, and handed the neck-
lace back through the window.
The Egyptian would by no means receive it.
"Keep! keep!" he implored, thrusting the mass
of red upon the Professor with both hands. "Howmuch you give?"
"One shilling," announced the Professor firmly.
The coral necklace lay on the edge of the table
throughout most of our leisurely meal. The vendor
argued, pleaded, gave it up, disappeared in the
crowd, returned dramatically after an interval.
The Professor ate calmly, chuckled much, and from
time to time repeated firmly the words, "One21
AFRICAN CAMP FIRES
shilling." Finally, at the cheese, he reached out,
swept the coral into his pocket, and laid down two
shillings. The Egyptian deftly gathered the coin,
smiled cheerfully, and produced a glittering veil
in which he tried in vain to enlist Billy's interest.
For coffee and cigars we moved to the terrace
outside. Here an orchestra played, the peoples
of many nations sat at little tables, the peddlers,
fakirs, jugglers, and fortune tellers swarmed. A half
dozen postal cards seemed sufficient to set a small
boy up in trade, and to imbue him with all the impor-
tance and insistence of a merchant with jewels.
Other ten-year-old ragamuffins tried to call our
attention to some sort of sleight-of-hand with poor
downy little chickens. Grave turbaned and polite
Indians squatted crosslegged at our feet begging to
give us a look into the future by means of the only
genuine hallmarked Yogism; a troupe of acrobats
went energetically and hopefully through quite a
meritorious performance a few feet away; a deftly
triumphant juggler did very easily, and directly
beneath our watchful eyes, some really wonderful
tricks. A butterfly-gorgeous swarm of insinuating
smiling peddlers of small things dangled and spread
their wares where they thought themselves most
sure of attention. Beyond our own little group we
saw slowly passing in the lighted street outside the
22
yfi^--
.'*'"'?
*' Camels laden with stone and in convoy of white-clad
figures shuffled down the slope at a picturesque angle"
PORT SAID
portico the variegated and picturesque loungers.
Across the way a phonograph bawled; our stringed
orchestra played "The Dollar Princess"; from some-
where over in the dark and mysterious alleyways
came the regular beating of a tom-tom. The mag-
nificent and picturesque town car with its gaudy raga-
muffins swayed by in train of its diminutive mule.
Suddenly our persistent and amusing entourage
vanished in all directions. Standing idly at the
portico was a very straight, black Soudanese. Onhis head was the usual red fez; his clothing was of
trim khaki; his knees and feet were bare, with blue
puttees between; and around his middle was drawn
close and smooth a blood-red sash at least a foot
and a half in breadth. He made a fine upstanding
Egyptian figure, and was armed with pride, a short
sheathed club, and a great scorn. No word spoke he,
nor command; but merely jerked a thumb toward the
darkness, and into the darkness our many-hued horde
melted away. We were left feeling rather lonesome
!
Near midnight we sauntered down the street to
the quai, whence we were rowed to the ship by
another turbaned, long-robed figure who sweetly
begged just a copper or so "for poor boatman.
"
We found the ship in the process of coaling, every
porthole and doorway closed, and heavy canvas
hung to protect as far as possible the clean decks.
23
AFRICAN CAMP FIRES
Two barges were moored alongside. Two blazing
braziers lighted them with weird red and flickering
flames. In their depths, cast in black and red
shadows, toiled half-guessed figures; from their
depths, mounting a single steep plank, came an
unbroken procession of natives, naked save for a
wisp of cloth around the loins. They trod closely
on each other's heels, carrying each his basket atop
his head or on one shoulder, mounted a gangplank,
discharged their loads into the side of the ship, and
descended again to the depths by way of another
plank. The lights flickered across their dark faces,
their gleaming teeth and eyes. Somehow the work
demanded a heap of screeching, shouting, and gestic-
ulation; but somehow also it went forward rapidly.
Dozens of unattached natives lounged about the
gunwales with apparently nothing to do but to look
picturesque. Shore boats moved into the narrow
circle of light, drifted to our gangway and dis-
charged huge crates of vegetables, sacks of unknown
stuffs, and returning passengers. A vigilant police
boat hovered near to settle disputes, generally with
the blade of an oar. For a long time we leaned over
the rail watching them, and the various reflected
lights in the water, and the very clear, unwavering
stars. Then, the coaling finished, and the portholes
once more opened, we turned in.
24
IV
SUEZ
SOMETIME during the night we must have
started, but so gently had we slid along at
fractional speed that until I raised my head and
looked out I had not realized the fact. I saw a high
sand bank. This glided monotonously by until I
grew tired of looking at it; and got up.
After breakfast, however, I found that the sand
bank had various attractions all of its own. Three
camels laden with stone and in convoy of white-clad
figures shuffled down the slope at a picturesque
angle. Two cowled women in black, veiled to the
eyes in gauze heavily sewn with sequins, barefooted,
with massive silver anklets, watched us pass.
Hindoo workmen in turban and loin cloth furnished
a picturesque note, but did not seem to be injuring
themselves by overexertion. Naked small boys
raced us for a short distance. The banks glided by
very slowly and very evenly, the wash sucked after
us like water in a slough after a duck boat, and the
sky above the yellow sand looked extremely blue.
25
AFRICAN CAMP FIRES
At short and regular intervals, halfway up the
minature sandhills, heavy piles or snubbing posts
had been planted. For these we at first could guess
no reason. Soon, however, we had to pass another
ship; and then we saw that one of us must tie up to
avoid being drawn irresistibly by suction into
collision with the other. The craft sidled by,
separated by only a few feet; so that we could look
across to each other's decks, and exchange greeting.
As the day grew this interest grew likewise.
Dredgers in the canal; rusty tramps flying unfamiliar
flags of strange tiny countries; big freighters, often
with Greek or Turkish characters on their sterns;
small, dirty steamers of suspicious business; passenger
ships like our own, returning from the tropics, with
white-clad, languid figures reclining in canvas chairs;
gunboats of this or that nation bound on mysterious
affairs; once a P. &. O. converted into a troopship
from whose every available porthole, hatch, deck,
and shroud laughing, brown, English faces shouted
chaff at our German decks — all these either tied
up for us, or were tied up for by us. The only craft
that received no consideration on our part were the
various picturesque Arab dhows, with their single
masts and the long yards slanting across them.
Since these were very small, our suction dragged
at them cruelly. As a usual thing four vociferous
26
SUEZ
figures clung desperately to a rope passed around one
of the snubbing posts ashore, while an old manshrieked syllables at them from the dhow itself.
As they never by any chance thought of mooring
her both stem and stern, the dhow generally changed
ends rapidly, shipping considerable water in the proc-
ess. It must be very trying to get so excited in a
hot climate.
The high sand banks of the early part of the day
soon dropped lower to afford us a wider view. In its
broad, general features the country was, quite simply,
the best desert of Arizona over again. There were
the same high, distant and brittle-looking mountains,
fragile and pearly; the same low, broken half-
distances; the same wide sweeps; the same wonderful
changing effects of light, colour, shadow, and mirage;
the same occasional strips of green marking the
water courses and oases. As to smaller detail we
saw many interesting divergences. In the fore-
ground constantly recurred the Bedouin brush
shelters, each with its picturesque figure or so of
flowing robes, and its grumpy camels. Twice wesaw travelling caravans, exactly like the Bible
pictures. At one place a single burnoused Arab,
leaning on his elbows, reclined full length on the sky-
line of a clean-cut sand hill. Glittering in the mirage,
half-guessed, half-seen, we made out distant little
27
AFRICAN CAMP FIRES
white towns with slender palm trees. At places the
water from the canal had overflowed wide tracts of
country. Here along the shore we saw thousands of
the water-fowl already familiar to us, as well as
such strangers as gaudy kingfishers, ibises, and rosy
flamingoes.
The canal itself seemed to be in a continual state
of repair. Dredgers were everywhere; some of the
ordinary shovel type, others working by suction, and
discharging far inland by means of weird huge pipes
that apparently meandered at will over the face of
nature. The control stations were beautifully
French and neat, painted yellow, each with its
gorgeous bougainvilleas in flower, its square-rigged
signal masts, its brightly painted extra buoys stand-
ing in a row, its wharf— and its impassive Arab
fishermen thereon. We reclined in our canvas chairs,
had lime squashes brought to us, and watched the
entertainment steadily and slowly unrolled before us.
We reached the end of the canal about three
o'clock of the afternoon, and dropped anchor far off"
low-lying shores. Our binoculars showed us white
houses in apparently single rank along a far-reaching
narrow sand spit, with sparse trees and a railroad
line. That was the town of Suez, and seemed so
little interesting that we were not particularly sorry
that we could not go ashore. Far in the distance
28
SUEZ
were mountains; and the water all about us was the
light, clear green of the sky at sunset.
Innumerable dhows and rowboats swarmed down,
filled with eager salesmen of curios and ostrich
plumes. They had not much time In which to
bargain, so they made it up In rapid-fire vociferation.
One very tall and dignified Arab had as sailor of his
craft the most extraordinary creature, just above
the lower limit of the human race. He was of a dull
coal black, without a single high light on him any-
where, as though he had been sanded; had prominent
teeth, like those of a baboon, In a wrinkled, wizened
monkey face across which were three tattooed bands;
and possessed a little long-armed spare figure, bent
and wiry. He clambered up and down his mast,
fetching things at his master's behest; leaped non-
chalantly for our rail or his own spar, as the case
might be, across the staggering abyss; clung so well
with his toes that he might almost have been classi-
fied with the quadrumana; and between times
squatted humped over on the rail watching us with
bright, elfish, alien eyes.
At last the big German sailors bundled the whole
variegated horde overside. It was time to go; and
our anchor chain was already rumbling in the hawse
pipes. They tumbled hastily into their boats; and
at once swarmed up their masts, whence they fever-
29
AFRICAN CAMP FIRES
ishly continued their Interrupted bargaining. In
fact so fully embarked on the tides of commerce
were they that they failed to notice the tides of
nature widening between us. One old man, In
especial, at the very top of his mast, jerked hither
and thither by the sea, continued imploringly to
offer an utterly ridiculous carved wooden camel
long after It was possible to have completed the
transaction should anybody have been moonstruck
enough to have desired it. Our ship's prow swung;
and just at sunset, as the lights of Suez were twin-
kling out one by one, we headed down the Red Sea.
30
V
THE RED SEA
SUEZ is Indeed the gateway to the East. In the
Mediterranean often the sea is rough, the
winds cold, passengers are not yet acquainted and
hug the saloons or the leeward side of the deck.
Once through the canal and all is changed by magic.
The air is hot and languid; the ship's company down
to the very scullions appear in immaculate white;
the saloon chairs and transoms even are put in
white coverings; electric fans hum everywhere;
the run on lime squashes begins; and many quaint
and curious customs of the tropics obtain.
For example; it is etiquette that before eight
o'clock one may wander the decks at will in one's
pajamas, converse affably with fair ladies in pigtail
and kimono, and be not abashed. But on the stroke
of eight bells it is also etiquette to disappear very
promptly and to array one's self for the day; and it is
very improper indeed to see or be seen after that
hour in the rather extreme negligee of the early
morning. Also it becomes the universal custom, or
31
AFRICAN CAMP FIRES
perhaps I should say the necessity, to slumber for
an hour after the noon meal. Certainly sleep
descending on the tropical traveller is armed with
a bludgeon. Passengers, crew, steerage, "deck,"
animal, and bird fall down then in an enchantment.
I have often wondered who navigates the ship during
that sacred hour; or, indeed, if anybody navigates
it at all. Perhaps that time is sacred to the genii
of the old East, who close all prying mortal eyes, but
in return lend a guiding hand to the most pressing
of mortal affairs. The deck of the ship is a curious
sight between the hours of half-past one and three.
The tropical siesta requires no couching of the form.
You sit down in your chair, with a book— you fade
slowly into a deep, restful slumber. And yet it is a
slumber wherein certain small pleasant things persist
from the world outside. You remain dimly conscious
of the rhythmic throbbing of the engines, of the beat
of soft, warm air on your cheek.
At three o'clock or thereabout you rise as gently
back to life; and sit erect in your chair without a
stretch or a yawn in your whole anatomy. Then
is the one time of day for a display of energy — if
you have any to display. Ship games, walks—fairly brisk— explorations to the forecastle, a
watch for flying fish or Arab dhows, anything until
tea time. Then the glowing sunset; the opalescent
32
THE RED SEA
sea, and the soft afterglow of the sky— and the
bugle summoning you to dress. That is a mean
job. Nothing could possibly swelter worse than
the tiny cabin. The electric fan is an aggravation.
You reappear in your fresh "whites" somewhat
warm and flustered in both mind and body. A turn
around the deck cools you off; and dinner restores
your equanimity— dinner with the soft, warmtropic air breathing through all the wide-open ports;
the electric fans drumming busily; the men all in
clean white; the ladies, the very few precious ladies,
in soft, low gowns. After dinner the deck, as near
cool as it will be, and bare heads to the breeze of our
progress and glowing cigars. At ten or eleven
o'clock the groups begin to break up, the canvas
chairs to empty. Soon reappears a pajamaed figure
followed by a steward carrying a mattress. This is
spread, under its owner's direction, in a dark corner
forward. With a sigh you in your turn plunge down
into the sweltering inferno of your cabin, only to
reappear likewise with a steward and a mattress.
The latter, if you are wise, you spread where the
wind of the ship's going will be full upon you. It is
a strong wind and blows upon you heavily so that
the sleeves and legs of your pajamas flop, but it is a
soft, warm wind, and beats you as with muffled
fingers. In no temperate clime can you ever enjoy
33
AFRICAN CAMP FIRES
this peculiar effect, of a strong breeze on your naked
skinwithout eventhe faintest surface chlllysensatlon.
So habituated has one become to feeling cooler in a
draught that the absence of chill lends the night an
unaccustomedness, the more weird in that it is
unanalyzed, so that one feels definitely that one is
in a strange, far country. This is intensified by the
fact that in these latitudes the moon, the great,
glorious, calm tropical moon, is directly overhead—follows the centre line of the zenith — instead of,
as with us in our temperate zone, always more or
less declined to the horizon. This too lends the
night an exotic quality, the more effective in that at
first the reason for It is not apprehended.
A night in the tropics is always more or less
broken. One awakens, and sleeps again. Motion-
less white-clad figures, cigarettes glowing, are
lounging against the rail looking out over a molten
sea. The moonlight lies in patterns across the deck,
shivering slightly under the throb of the engines, or
occasionally swaying slowly forward or slowly back
as the ship'scourse changes, but otherwise motionless,
for here the sea is always calm. You raise your head,
look about, sprawl in a new position on your mattress,
fall asleep. On one of these occasions you find
unexpectedly that the velvet-gray night has become
steel-gray dawn; and that the kindly old quarter-
14
THE RED SEA
master is bending over you. Sleepily,very sleepily,
you stagger to your feet and collapse into the nearest
chair. Then to the swish of waters as the sailors
sluice the decks all around and under you, you fall
into a really deep sleep.
At six o'clock this is broken by chota-hahzari,
another tropical institution, consisting merely of
clear tea and crackers. I never could get to care
for it, but nowhere in the tropics could I head it off.
No matter how tired I was or how dead sleepy, I had
to receive that confounded chota-hahzari. Throwing
things at the native who brought it did no good at
all. He merely dodged. Admonition did no good,
nor prohibition in strong terms. I was but one
white man of the whole white race; and I had no
right to possess idiosyncrasies running counter to
Distauri, the Custom. However, as the early hours
are the profitable hours in the tropics, it did not
drive me to homicide.
The ship's company now developed. Our two
prize members fortunately for us, sat at our table.
The first was the Swedish Professor aforementioned.
He was large, benign, paternal, broad in mind,
thoroughly human and beloved, and yet profoundly
erudite. He was our iconoclast in the way of food;
for he performed small but illuminating dissections
on his plate, and announced triumphantly results
35
AFRICAN CAMP FIRES
that were not a bit in accordance with the menu.
A single bone was sufficient to take the pretension out
of any fish. Our other particular friend was C,with whom later we travelled in the interior of
Africa. C. is a very celebrated hunter and explorer,
an old Africander, his face seamed and tanned by
many years in a hard climate. For several days
we did not recognize him, although he sat fairly
alongside; but put him down as a shy man and let
it go at that. He never stayed for the long table
d'hote dinners; but fell upon the first solid course
and made a complete meal from that. When he had
quite finished eating all he could; he drank all he
could; then he departed from the table, and took
up a remote and inaccessible position in the corner
of the smoking room. He was engaged in growing
the beard he customarily wore in the jungle; a most
fierce outstanding Mohammedan-looking beard that
terrified the intrusive into submission. And yet
Bwana C. possessed the kindest blue eyes in the
world, full of quiet patience, great understanding
and infinite gentleness. His manner was abrupt and
uncompromising; but he would do anything in the
world for one who stood in need of him. From
women he fled; yet Billy won him with infinite
patience, and in the event they became the closest
of friends. Withal he possessed a pair of the most
36
THE RED SEA
powerful shoulders I have ever seen on a man of his
frame; and in the depths of his mild blue eyes
flickered a flame of resolution that I could well
imagine flaring up to something formidable. Slow
to make friends, but staunch and loyal; gentle and
forbearing, but fierce and implacable in action; at
once loved and most terribly feared; shy as a wild
animal, but straightforward and undeviating in
his human relations; most remarkably quiet and
unassuming, but with tremendous vital force in his
deep eyes and forward-thrust jaw; informed with the
widest and most understanding humanity, but
unforgiving of evildoers; and with the most direct
and absolute courage, Bwana C. was to me the most
interesting man I met in Africa, and became the
best of my friends.
The only other man at our table happened to be,
for our sins, the young Englishman mentioned as
throwing the first coin to the old woman on the pier
at Marseilles. We will call him Brown; and,
because he represents a type, he is worth looking
upon for a moment.
He was of the super-enthusiastic sort; bubbling
over with vitality; in and out of everything; bounding
up at odd and languid moments. To an extra-
ordinary extent he was afflicted with the spiritual
blindness of his class. Quite genuinely, quite
37
AFRICAN CAMP FIRES
seriously, he was unconscious of the human signifi-
cance of beings and institutions belonging to a
foreign country or even to a class other than his own.
His own kind he treated as complete and under-
standable human creatures. All others were merely
objective. As we, to a certain extent, happened to
fall in the former category, he was as pleasant to us
as possible— that is, he was pleasant to us in his
way, but had not insight enough to guess at how to
be pleasant to us in our way. But as soon as he got
out of his own class, or what he conceived to be such,
he considered all people as "outsiders. " He did not
credit them with prejudices to rub, with feelings to
hurt, indeed hardly with ears to overhear. Provided
his subject was an "outsider" he had not the
slightest hesitancy in saying exactly what he thought
about any one, anywhere, always in his high, clear
English voice, no matter what the time or occasion.
As a natural corollary he always rebuffed beggars
and the like brutally; and was always quite sublimely
doing little things that thoroughly shocked our sense
of the other fellow's rights as a human being. In all
this he did not mean to be cruel nor inconsiderate.
It was just the way he was built; and it never
entered his head that "such people" had ears and
brains.
In the rest of the ship's company were a dozen or
38
THE RED SEA
so other Englishmen of the upper classes, either
army men on shooting trips, or youths going out
with some idea of settling in the country. They
were a clean-built pleasant lot, good people to know
anywhere; but of no unusual interest. It was only
when one went abroad into the other nations that
inscribable human interest could be found.
There was the Greek, Scutari, and his bride, a
languorous rather opulent beauty, with large dark
eyes for all men, and a luxurious manner of lying
back and fanning herself. She talked, soft voiced,
in half a dozen languages, changing from one to the
other without a break In either her fluency or her
thought. Her little lithe active husband sat around
and adored her. He was apparently a very able
citizen Indeed, for he was going out to take charge
of the construction work on a German Railway.
To have filched so Important a job from the Ger-
man's themselves shows that he must have had abil-
ity. With them were a middle-aged Holland couple
engaged conscientiously In travelling over the globe.
They had been everywhere — the two American
hemispheres, from one Arctic Sea to another, Siberia,
China, the Malay Archipelago, this, that, and the
other odd corner of the world. Always they sat
placidly side by side, either In the saloon or on deck,
smiling benignly, and conversing in spaced com-
39
AFRICAN CAMP FIRES
fortable syllables with everybody who happened
along. Mrs. Breemen worked industriously on
some kind of feminine gear, and explained to all
and sundry that she travelled "to see de sceenery
wid my hoosband.
"
Also in this group was a small, wiry GermanDoctor who had lived for many years in the far
interior of Africa, and was now returning after his
vacation. He was a little man, bright-eyed and
keen, with a clear complexion and hard flesh, in
striking and agreeable contrast to most of his
compatriots. The latter were trying to drink all
the beer on the ship; but as she had been stocked
for an eighty-day voyage, of which this was but the
second week, they were not making noticeable
headway. However, they did not seem to be easily
discouraged. The Herr Doktor was most polite
and attentive, but as we did not talk German nor
much Swahili; and he had neither English nor muchFrench, we had our difficulties. I have heard Billy
in talking to him scatter fragments of these four
languages through a single sentence!
For several days we drifted down a warm flat sea.
Then one morning we came on deck to find ourselves
close aboard a number of volcanic islands. Theywere composed entirely of red and dark purple lava
blocks, rugged, quite without vegetation save for
40
THE RED SEA
occasional patches of stringy green in a gully; and
uninhabited except for a lighthouse on one, and a
fishing shanty near the shores of another. The
high, mournful mountains with their dark shadows
seemed to brood over hot desolation. The rusted
and battered stern of a wrecked steamer stuck up
at an acute angle from the surges. Shortly after we
picked up the shores of Arabia.
Note the advantages of a half ignorance. Fromearly childhood we had thought of Arabia as the
"burning desert" — flat, of course — and of the
Red Sea as bordered by "shifting sands" alone.
If we had known the truth — if we had not been
half ignorant— we would have missed the profound
surprise of discovering that in reality the Red Sea
is bordered by high and rugged mountains, leaving
just space enough between themselves and the shore
for a sloping plain on which our glasses could make
out occasional palms. Perhaps the "shifting sands
of the burning desert" lie somewhere beyond; but
somebody might have mentioned these great moun-
tains! After examining them attentively we had
to confess that if this sort of thing continued
farther north, the children of Israel must have had
a very hard time of it. Mocha shone white, glitter-
ing and low, with the red and white spire of a mosque
rising brilliantly above it.
41
VI
ADEN
IT WAS cooler; and for a change we had turned
into our bunks, when B. pounded on our state-
room door.
"In the name of the Eternal East," said he,
"come on deck!"
We slipped on kimonos and joined the row of
scantily draped and interested figures along the rail.
The ship lay quite still on a perfect sea of moon-
light bordered by a low flat distant shore on one side,
and nearer mountains on the other. A strong flare
centred from two ship reflectors overside made
a focus of illumination that subdued, but could not
quench, the soft moonlight with which all outside
was silvered. A dozen boats striving against a
current or clinging as best they could to the ship's
side glided into the light and became real and solid;
or dropped back into the ghostly white Insubstanti-
ability of the moon. They were long narrow boats,
with small flush decks fore and aft. We looked
down on them from almost directly above, so that
42
ADEN
we saw the thwarts and the ribs and the things they
contained.
Astern in each stood men, bending gracefully
against the thrust of long sweeps. About their
waists were squares of cloth, wrapped twice and
tucked in. Otherwise they were naked, and the
long smooth muscles of their slender bodies rippled
under the skin. The latter was of a beautiful
fine texture, and chocolate brown. These men had
keen intelligent clear-cut faces, of the Greek order,
as though the statues of a garden had been stained
brown and had come to life. They leaned on their
sweeps, thrusting slowly but strongly against the
little wind and current that would drift them back.
In the body of the boats crouched, sat, or lay a
picturesque mob. Some pulled spasmodically on
the very long limber oars; others squatted doing
nothing; some, huddled shapelessly underneath
white cloths that completely covered them, slept
soundly in the bottom. We took these for mer-
chandise until one of them suddenly threw aside his
covering and sat up. Others again poised in proud
and graceful attitudes on the extreme prows of their
bobbing craft. Especially decorative were two
clad only in immense white turbans and white cloths
about the waist. An old Arab with a white beard
stood midships in one boat quite motionless except
43
AFRICAN CAMP FIRES
for the slight swaying necessary to preserve his
equilibrium, his voluminous white draperies flutter-
ing in the wind, his dark face just distinguishable
under his burnouse. Most of the men were Somalis,
however. Their keen small faces, slender but
graceful necks, slim, well-formed torsos bending to
every movement of the boat, and the white or
gaudy draped nether garments were as decorative
as the figures on an Egyptian tomb. One or two
of the more barbaric had made neat headdresses of
white clay plastered in the form of a skullcap.
After an interval a small and fussy tugboat
steamed around our stern and drew alongside the
gangway. Three passengers disembarked from her
and made their way aboard. The main deck of the
craft under an awning was heavily encumbered with
trunks, tin boxes, hand baggage, tin bathtubs, gun
cases and all sorts of impedimenta. The tugboat
moored itself to us fore and aft, and proceeded
to think about discharging. Perhaps twenty menin accurate replica of those in the small boats had
charge of the job. They had their own methods.
After a long interval devoted strictly to nothing,
some unfathomable impulse would Incite one or two
or three of the natives to tackle a trunk. At It
they tugged and heaved and pushed In the manner
of ants making off with a particularly large fly or
44
ADEN
other treasure trove, teasing It up the steep gang-
way to the level of our decks. The trunks once
safely bestowed, all Interest, all Industry died. Wethought that finished it; and wondered why the tug
did not pull out of the way. But always, after an
interval, another bright idea would strike another
native or natives. He — or they— would disap-
pear beneath the canvas awning over the tug's deck,
to emerge shortly carrying almost anything, from
a parasol to a heavy chest.
On close inspection they proved to be a very
small people. The impression of graceful height
had come from the slenderness and justness of their
proportions, the smallness of their bones, and the
upright grace of their carriage. After standing
alongside one, we acquired a fine respect for their
ability to handle those trunks at all.
Moored to the other side of the ship we found two
huge lighters from which bales of goods were being
hoisted aboard. Two camels and a dozen diminu-
tive mules stood In the waist of one of these craft.
The camels were as sniffy and supercilious and
scornful as camels always a.i^; and everybody
promptly hated them with the hatred of the abys-
mally inferior spirit for something that scorns It,
as is the usual attitude of the human mind toward
camels. We waited for upward of an hour in the
45
AFRICAN CAMP FIRES
hope of seeing those camels hoisted aboard; but
In vain. While we were so waiting one of the deck
passengers below us, a Somali In white clothes and
a gorgeous cerise turban decided to turn in. Hespread a square of thin matting atop one of the
hatches, and began to unwind yards and yards of
the fine silk turban. He came to the end of It—whisk! he sank to the deck; the turban, spread open
by the resistance of the air, fluttered down to cover
him from head to foot. Apparently he fell asleep
at once, for he did not again move nor alter his
position. He, as well as an astonishingly large
proportion of the other Somalis and Abyssinians we
saw, carried a queer, well-defined, triangular wound
in his head. It had long since healed, was an inch
or so across, and looked as though a piece of the skull
had been removed. If a conscientious enemy had
leisure and an ice pick he would do just about that
sort of a job. How Its recipient had escaped instant
death is a mystery.
At length, about three o'clock, despairing of the
camels, we turned in.
After three hourgj sleep we were again on deck.
Aden by daylight seemed to be several sections of a
town tucked into pockets in bold, raw,lava mountains
that came down fairly to the water's edge. Between
these pockets ran a narrow shore road; and along the
46
ADEN
road paced haughty camels hitched to diminutive
carts. On contracted round bluffs toward the sea
were various low bungalow buildings which, we were
informed, comprised the military and civil officers'
quarters. The real Aden has been built inland a
short distance at the bottom of a cup in the moun-
tains. Elaborate stone reservoirs have been con-
structed to catch rain water, as there is no other
natural water supply whatever. The only difficulty
is that it practically never rains; so the reservoirs
stand empty, the water is distilled from the sea,
and the haughty camels and the little carts do the
distributing.
The lava mountains occupy one side of the
spacious bay or gulf. The foot of the bay and the
other side are flat, with one or two very distant
white villages, and many heaps of glittering salt as
big as houses.
We waited patiently at the rail for an hour more
to see the camels slung aboard by the crane. It was
worth the wait. They lost their impassive and
immemorial dignity completely, sprawling, groaning,
positively shrieking in dismay. When the solid
deck rose to them, and the sling had been loosened,
however, they regained their poise instantaneously.
Their noses went up in the air, and they looked
about them with a challenging, unsmiling superiority,
47
AFRICAN CAMP FIRES
as though to dare any one of us to Uugh. Their
native attendants immediately squatted down in
front of them and began to feed them with con-
venient lengths of what looked like our common
marsh cattails. The camels did not even then
manifest the slightest interest in the proceedings.
Indeed, they would not condescend to reach out three
inches for the most luscious tidbit held that far
from their aristocratic noses. The attendants had
actually to thrust the fodder between their jaws.
I am glad to say they condescended to chew.
VII
THE INDIAN OCEAN
IEAVING Aden, and rounding the great prom-
-^ ontory of Cape Gardafui, we turned south
along the coast of Africa. Off the cape were strange,
oily cross rips and currents on the surface of the sea;
the flying fish rose in flocks before our bows; high
mountains of peaks and flat table tops thrust their
summits into clouds; and along the coast the breakers
spouted like whales. For the first time, too, we
began to experience what our preconceptions had
imagined as tropical heat. Heretofore we had been
hot enough, in all conscience, but the air had felt as
though wafted from an opened furnace door— dry
and scorching. Now, although the temperature was
lower,* the humidity was greater. A swooning
languor was abroad over the spellbound ocean, a
relaxing mist of enchantment. My glasses were
constantly clouding over with a fine coating of
water drops; exposed metal rusted overnight; the
folds in garments accumulated mildew in an as-
*82-88'' in daytime, and 75-83" at night.
49
AFRICAN CAMP FIRES
tonishingly brief period of time. There was never
even the suggestion of chill in this dampness. It
clung and enveloped like a grateful garment; and
seemed only to lack sweet perfume.
At this time, by good fortune, it happened that
the moon came full. We had enjoyed its waxing
during our voyage down the Red Sea; but now it had
reached its greatest phase, and hung over the
slumbering tropic ocean like a lantern. The lazy sea
stirred beneath it, and the ship glided on, its lights
fairlysubdued by the splendour of the waters. Under
the awnings the ship's company lounged in lazy
attitudes or promenaded slowly, talking low voiced,
cigars glowing in the splendid dusk. Overside, in
the furrow of the disturbed waters, the phosphores-
cence flashed perpetually beneath the shadow of the
ship.
The days passed by languidly and all alike. Onthe chart outside the smoking-room door the proces-
sion of tiny German flags on pins marched steadily,
an inch at a time, toward the south. Otherwise we
might as well have imagined ourselves midgets
afloat In a pond and getting nowhere.
Somewhere north of the equator— before Father
Neptune in ancient style had come aboard and
ducked the lot of us — we were treated to the
spectacle of how the German "sheep" reacts under
50
THE INDIAN OCEAN
a joke. Each nation has its type of fool; and all,
for the joyousness of mankind, differ. On the
bulletin board one evening appeared a notice to the
effect that the following morning a limited number
of sportsmen would be permitted ashore for the day.
Each was advised to bring his own lunch, rifle, and
drinks. The reason alleged was that the ship must
round a certain cape across which the sportsmen
could march afoot in enough shorter time to permit
them a little shooting.
Now aboard ship were a dozen English, four
Americans, and thirty or forty Germans. The
Americans and English looked upon that bulletin,
smiled gently and went to order another round of
lime squashes. It was a meek, mild, little joke
enough; but surely the bulletin board was as far as it
could possibly go. Next morning, however, we
observed a half dozen of our German friends in
khaki and sun helmet, very busy with lunch boxes,
bottles of beer, rifles, and the like. They said they
were going ashore as per bulletin. We looked at
each other and hied us to the upper deck. There wefound one of the boats slung overside, with our old
friend the Quartermaster ostentatiously stowing kegs
of water, boxes and the like.
"When," we inquired gently, "does the expedition
start?"
SI
AFRICAN CAMP FIRES
"At ten o'clock," said he.
It was now within fifteen minutes of that hour.
We were at the time fully ten miles off shore, and
forging ahead full speed parallel with the coast.
We pointed out this fact to the Quartermaster, but
found to our sorrow that the poor old man had
suddenly gone deaf! We, therefore, refrained from
asking several other questions that had occurred
to us, such as, Why the cape was not shown on the
map?" Somebody," said one of the Americans, a cowboy
going out second class on a look for new cattle coun-
try, "is a goat. It sure looks to me like it was these
yere steamboat people. They can't expect to rope
nothing on such a raw deal as this!"
To which the English assented, though in different
idiom.
But now up the companion ladder struggled eight
serious-minded individuals herded by the second
mate. They were armed to the teeth and thoroughly
equipped with things I had seen in German cata-
logues, but in whose existence I had never believed.
A half-dozen sailors eagerly helped them with their
multitudinous effects. Not a thought gave they to
the fact that we were ten miles off the coast, that
we gave no indication of slackening speed, that it
would take the rest of the day to row ashore, that
52
THE INDIAN OCEAN
there was no cape for us to round, that if there
were— oh! all the other hundred improbabilities
peculiar to the situation. Under direction of the
mate they deposited their impedimenta beneath a
tarpaulin, and took their places in solemn rows
amidships across the thwarts of the boat slung
overside. The importance of the occasion sat
upon them heavily; they were going ashore— in
Africa — to Slay Wild Beasts. They looked upon
themselves as of bolder, sterner stuff than the rest
of us.
When the procession first appeared, our cowboy's
face for a single instant had flamed with amazed
incredulity. Then a mask of expressionless stolidity
fell across his features, which in no line thereafter
varied one iota.
"What are they going to do with them?" mur-
mured one of the Englishmen, at a loss.
"I reckon," said the cowboy, "that they look on
this as the easiest way to drown them all to onct.
"
Then from behind one of the other boats suddenly
appeared a huge German sailor with a hose. Thedevoted imbeciles in the shore boat were drenched
as by a cloudburst. Back and forth and up and
down the heavy stream played, while every other
human being about the ship shrieked with joy.
Did the victims rise up In a body and capture that
S3
AFRICAN CAMP FIRES
hose nozzle and turn the stream to sweep the decks?
Did they duck for shelter? did they at least knowenough to scatter and run? They did none of these
things; but sat there in meek little rows like manni-
kins until the boat was half full of water and every-
thing awash. Then, when the sailor shut off the
stream, they continued to sit there until the mate
came to order them out. Why? I cannot tell you.
Perhaps that is the German idea of how to take a
joke. Perhaps they were afraid worse things might be
consequent on resistance. Perhaps they still hoped
to go ashore. One of the Englishmen asked just
that question.
"What," he demanded disgustedly, "what is the
matter with the beggars?"
Our cowboy may have had the correct solution.
He stretched his long legs and jumped down from
the rail.
"Nothing stirring above the ears," said he.
It is customary in books of travel to describe this
part of the journey about as follows: "skirting
the low and uninteresting shores of Africa we at
length reached," etc. Low and uninteresting shores
!
Through the glasses we made out distant mountains
far beyond nearer hills. The latter were green-
covered with dense forests whence rose mysterious
smokes. Along the shore we saw an occasional
54
THE INDIAN OCEAN
coconut plantation to the water's edge and native
huts and villages of thatch. Canoes of strange
models lay drawn up on shelving beaches; queer
fish-pounds of brush reached out considerable
distances from the coast. The white surf pounded
on a yellow beach.
All about these things was the jungle, hemming
in the plantations and villages, bordering the lagoons,
creeping down until it fairly overhung the yellow
beaches; as though, conqueror through all the
country beyond, it were half-inclined to dispute
dominion with old Ocean himself. It looked from
the distance like a thick, soft coverlet thrown down
over the country; following, or, rather, suggesting,
the inequalities. Through the glasses we were
occasionally able to peek under the edge of this
coverlet, and see where the fringe of the jungle drew
back in a little pocket, or to catch the sheen of
mysterious dark rivers slipping to the sea. Upthese dark rivers, by way of the entrances of these
tiny pockets, the imagination then could lead on
into the dimness beneath the sunlit upper surfaces.
Toward the close of one afternoon we changed
our course slightly and swung in on a long slant
toward the coast. We did it casually; too casually
for so very important an action, for now at last we
were about to touch the mysterious continent.
55
AFRICAN CAMP FIRES
Then we saw clearer the fine, big groves of palm and
the luxuriance of the tropical vegetation. Against
the greenery, bold and white, shone the buildings of
Mombasa; and after a little while more we saw an
inland glitter that represented her narrow, deep bay,
the stern of a wreck against the low, green cliffs, and
strange, fat-trunked squat trees without leaves.
Straight past all this we glided at half speed, then
turned sharp to the right to enter a long, wide ex-
panse, like a river with green banks, twenty feet or so
in height, grown thickly with the tall coconut palms.
These gave way at times into broad, low lagoons, at
the end of which were small beaches and boats, and
native huts among more coconut groves. Through
our glasses we could see the black men watching us,
quite motionless, squatted on their heels.
It was like suddenly entering another world, this
gliding from the open sea straight into the heart of
a green land. The ceaseless wash of waves we had
left outside with the ocean; our engines had fallen
silent. Across the hushed waters came to us strange
chantings and the beating of a tom-tom, an oc-
casional shrill shout from the unknown jungle.
The sun was just set, and the tops of the palms
caught the last rays; all below was dense green
shadow. Across the surface of the water glided
dugout canoes of shapes strange to us. We passed
S6
THE INDIAN OCEAN
ancient ruins almost completely dismantled, their
stones half-smothered in green rank growth. The
wide riverlike bay stretched on before us as far as
the waning light permitted us to see; finally losing
itself in the heart of mystery.
Steadily and confidently our ship steamed for-
ward, until at last, when we seemed to be afloat in
a land-locked lake, we dropped anchor and came
to rest.
Darkness fell utterly before the usual quarantine
regulations had been carried through. Active and
efficient agents had already taken charge of our
affairs, so we had only to wait idly by the rail until
summoned. Then we jostled our way down the
long gangway, passed and repassed by natives
carrying baggage or returning for more baggage,
stepped briskly aboard a very bobby little craft,
clambered over a huge pile of baggage, and stowed
ourselves as best we could. A figure in a long white
robe sat astern, tiller ropes in hand; two half-naked
blacks far up toward the prow manipulated a pair of
tremendous sweeps. With a vast heaving, jabbering,
and shouting our boat disengaged itself from the
swarm of other craft. We floated around the stern
of our ship — and were immediately suspended in
blackness dotted with the stars and their reflections
and with various, twinkling, scattered lights. To one
57
AFRICAN CAMP FIRES
of these we steered; and presently touched at a stone
quai with steps. At last we set foot on the land to
which so long we had journeyed and toward which
so great our expectations had grown. We experi-
enced "the pleasure that touches the souls of menlanding on strange shores.
"
S8
VIII
MOMBASA
ASINGLE light shone at the end of the stone
quai, and another inside a big indeterminate
building at some distance. We stumbled toward
this, and found it to be the biggest shed ever con-
structed out of corrugated iron. A bearded Sikh
stood on guard at its open entrance. He let any one
and every one enter, with never a flicker of his
expressionless black eyes; but allowed no one to go
out again without the closest scrutiny for dutiable
articles that lacked the blue customs paster. Weentered. The place was vast and barnlike and dim,
and very, very hot. A half-dozen East Indians stood
behind the counters; another, a babu, sat at a little
desk ready to give his clerical attention to what might
be required. We saw no European; but next morning
found that one passed his daylight hours in this in-
ferno of heat. For the moment we let our main bag-
gage go, and occupied ourselves only with getting
through our smaller effects. This accomplished, we
stepped out past the Sikh into the grateful night.
59
AFRICAN CAMP FIRES
We had as guide a slender and wiry individual
clad in tarboosh and long white robe. In a vague
general way we knew that the town of Mombasa,
was across the island and about four miles distant.
In what direction or how we got there we had not
the remotest idea.
The guide set off at a brisk pace with which we
tried in vain to keep step. He knew the ground,
and we did not; and the night was black-dark.
Commands to stop were of no avail whatever; nor
could we get hold of him to restrain him by force.
When we put on speed he put on speed too. His
white robe glimmered ahead of us just in sight; and
in the darkness other white robes, passing and
crossing, glimmered also. At first the ground was
rough, so that we stumbled outrageously. Billy
and B. soon fell behind, and I heard their voices
calling plaintively for us to slow down a bit.
"If I ever lose this nigger I'll never find him
again," I shouted back, "but I can find you. Dothe best you can!"
We struck a smoother road that led up a hill on
a long slant. Apparently for miles we followed
thus, the white-robed individual ahead still deaf to
all commands and the blood-curdling threats I had
now come to uttering. All our personal baggage
had long since mysteriously disappeared, ravished
60
MOMBASA
away from us at the customs house by a ragged
horde of blacks. It began to look as though we
were stranded in Africa without baggage or effects.
Billy and B. were all the time growing fainter in the
distance, though evidently they too had struck the
long, slanting road.
Then we came to a dim, solitary lantern glowing
feebly beside a bench at what appeared to be the top
of the hill. Here our guide at last came to a halt
and turned to me a grinning face.
^'Samama hapa," he observed.
There! That was the word I had been frantically
searching my memory for! Samama — stop!
The others struggled in. We were very warm.
Up to the bench led a tiny car track, the rails not
over two feet apart, like the toy railroads children
use. This did not look much like grown-up trans-
portation, but it and the bench and the dim lantern
represented all the visible world.
We sat philosophically on the bench and enjoyed
the soft tropical night. The air was tepid, heavy
with unknown perfume, black as a band of velvet
across the eyes, musical with the subdued undertones
of a thousand thousand night insects. At points
overhead the soft, blind darkness melted imper-
ceptibly into stars.
After a long interval we distinguished a distant
6i
AFRICAN CAMP FIRES
faint rattling, that each moment increased in loud-
ness. Shortly came into view along the narrow
tracks a most extraordinary vehicle. It was a
small square platform on wheels across which ran a
bench seat, and over which spread a canopy. It
carried also a dim lantern. This rumbled up to us
and stopped. From its stern hopped two black boys.
Obeying a smiling invitation, we took our places on
the bench. The two boys immediately set to push-
ing us along the narrow track.
We were off at an astonishing speed through the
darkness. The night was deliciously tepid; and,
as I have said, absolutely dark. We made out the
tops of palms and the dim loom of great spreading
trees, and could smell sweet, soft odours. The bare-
headed, lightly clad boys pattered alongside whenever
the grade was easy, one hand resting against the rail;
or pushed mightily up little hills; or clung alongside
like monkeys while we rattled and swooped and
plunged down hill into the darkness. Subsequently
we learned that a huge flat beam projecting amid-
ships from beneath the seat operated a brake which
we above were supposed to manipulate; but being
quite ignorant as to the ethics and mechanics of this
strange street-car system, we swung and swayed at
times quite breathlessly.
After about fifteen minutes we began to pick up
62
MOMBASA
lights ahead, then to pass dimly seen garden walls
with trees whose brilliant flowers the lantern re-
vealed fitfully. At last we made out white stucco
houses; and shortly drew up with a flourish before
the hotel itself.
This was a two-story stucco affair, with deep
verandas sunken in at each story. It fronted a
wide white street facing a public garden; and this,
we subsequently discovered, was about the only
clear and open space in all the narrow town. Ante-
lope horns were everywhere hung on the walls; and
teakwood easy chairs with rests on which com-
fortably to elevate your feet above your head stood
all about. We entered a bare brick-floored dining-
room, and partook of tropical fruits quite new to us
— papayas, mangoes, custard apples, pawpaws, and
the small red eating bananas too delicate for export.
Overhead the punkahs swung back and forth in lazy
hypnotic rhythm. We could see the two blacks at
the ends of the punkah cords outside on the ve-
randa, their bodies swaying llthely in alternation as
they threw their weight against the light ropes.
Other blacks, in the long white robes and exquisitely
worked white skullcaps of the Swahili, glided noise-
lessly on bare feet, serving.
After dinner we sat out until midnight in the
teakwood chairs of the upper gallery, staring through
63
AFRICAN CAMP FIRES
the arches into the black, mysterious night, for it
was very hot; and we rather dreaded the necessary
mosquito veils as likely to prove stuffy. The mos-
quitoes are few in Mombasa, but they are very,
very deadly. At midnight the thermometer stood
87° F.
Our premonitions as to stuffiness were well justi-
fied. After a restless night we came awake at
daylight to the sound of a fine row of some sort
going on outside in the streets. Immediately wearose, threw aside the lattices, and hung out over
the sill.
The chalk-white road stretched before us. Op-
posite was a public square grown with brilliant
flowers, and flowering trees. We could not doubt
the cause of the trouble. An Indian on a bicycle,
hurrying to his office, had knocked down a native
child. Said child, quite naked, sat in the middle
of the white dust and howled to rend the heavens —whenever he felt himself observed, If, however,
the attention of the crowd happened for the momentto be engrossed with the babu, the injured one sat
up straight and watched the row with interested
rolling pickaninny eyes. A native policeman made
the centre of a whirling, vociferating group. He was
a fine-looking chap, straight and soldierly, dressed
in red tarboosh, khaki coat bound close around the
64
MOMBASA
waist by yards and yards of broad red webbing, loose,
short drawers of khaki, bare knees and feet, and blue
puttees between. His manner was inflexible. The
babu jabbered excitedly; telling, in all probability,
how he was innocent of fault, was late for his work,
etc. In vain. He had to go; also the kid, who now,
seeing himself again an object of interest, recom-
menced his howling. Then the babu began franti-
cally to indicate members of the crowd whom he
desired to retain as witnesses. Evidently not
pleased with the prospect of appearing in court,
those indicated promptly ducked and ran. The
policeman as promptly pursued and collared them
one by one. He was a long-legged policeman, and
he ran well. The moment he laid hands on a
fugitive, the latter collapsed; whereupon the police-
man dropped him and took after another. The
joke of it was that the one so abandoned did not
try again to make off, but stayed as though he had
been tagged at some game. Finally the whole lot,
still vociferating, moved off down the white road.
For over an hour we hung from our window sill
thoroughly interested and amused by the varied life
that deployed before our eyes. The morning
seemed deliciously cool after the hot night, although
the thermometer stood 79°. The sky was very blue,
with big piled white clouds down near the horizon.
65
AFRICAN CAMP FIRES
Dazzling sun shone on the white road, the white
buildings visible up and down the street, the white
walls enclosing their gardens, and the greenery and
colours of the trees within them. For from what
we could see from our window we immediately
voted tropical vegetation quite up to advertisement.
Whole trees of gaudy red or yellow or bright orange
blossoms, flowering vines, flowering shrubs, peered
over the walls or through the fences; and behind
them rose great mangoes or the slenderer shafts of
bananas and coconut palms.
Up and down wandered groups of various sorts
of natives. A month later we would have been able
to identify their different tribes and to know more
about them; but now we wondered at them as strange
and picturesque peoples. They impressed us in gen-
eral as being a fine lot of men, for they were of good
physique, carried themselves well, and looked about
them with a certain dignity and independence, a
fine, free pride of carriage and of step. This fact
alone difi"erentiated them from our own negroes;
but, further, their features were in general muchfiner, and their skins of a clear mahogony beautiful
in its satiny texture. Most— and these were the
blackest— wore long white robes and fine openwork
skullcaps. They were the local race, the Swahili,
bad we but knowa it; the original "Zanzibari" who66
MOMBASA
furnished Livingstone, Stanley, Speke, and the other
early explorers with their men. Others, however,
were much less "civilized." We saw one "Cook's
tour from the jungle" consisting of six savages,
their hair twisted into innumerable points, their
ear lobes stretched to hang fairly to their shoulders
wearing only a rather neglectful blanket, adorned
with polished wire, carrying war clubs and bright
spears. They followed, with eyes and mouths
open, a very sophisticated-looking city cousin in the
usual white garments, swinging a jaunty, light
bamboo cane. The cane seems to be a distinguish-
ing mark of the leisure class. It not only means
that you are not working; but also that you have no
earthly desire to work.
About this time one of the hotel boys brought the
inevitable chota-hahzari— the tea and biscuits of
early morning. For this once it was very welcome.
Our hotel proved to be on the direct line of
freighting. There are no horses or draught animals
in Mombasa; the fly is too deadly. Therefore all
hauling is done by hand. The tiny tracks of the
unique street-car system run everywhere any one
would wish to go; branching off even into private
grounds and to the very front doors of bungalows
situated far out of town. Each resident owns his
own street car just as elsewhere a man has his
67
AFRICAN CAMP FIRES
own carriage. There are of course public cars also,
each with its pair of boys to push it; and also a
number of rather decrepit rickshaws. As a natural
corollary to the passenger traffic, the freighting also
is handled by the blacks on large flat trucks with
short guiding poles. These men are quite naked
save for a small loin cloth, are beautifully shaped,
and glisten all over from the perspiration shining
in the sun. So fine is the texture of their skins, the
softness of their colour, so rippling the play of
muscles, that this shining perspiration is like a beau-
tiful polish. They push from behind slowly and
steadily and patiently and unwaveringly the most
tremendous loads of the heaviest stuffs. When the
hill becomes too steep for them, they turn their
backs against the truck; and by placing one foot
behind the other, a few inches at a time, they edge
their burden up the slope.
The steering is done by one man at the pole or
tongue in front. This individual also sets the key
to the song by which in Africa all heavy labour is
carried forward. He cries his wavering shrill-voiced
chant; the toilers utter antiphony in low gruff tones.
At a distance one hears only the wild high syncopated
chanting; but as the affair draws slowly nearer, he
catches the undertone of the responses. These
latter are cast in the regular swing and rhythm of
68
In the Swahili quarter of Mombasa
The entire water supply of Mombasa is drawn from
numberless picturesque wells
MOMBASA
effort; but the steersman throws in his bit at odd
and irregular intervals. Thus:
Headman (shrill): ^^ Hay ah mon!"
Pushers (gruff in rhythm) : Tunkf— tunki—tunk!— "or:
Headman (shrill and wavering minor chant):
"^A— nah— nee— e-e-e!^^
Pushers (undertone) :" Umbwa— jo-e! Umhwa—
jo— erThese wild and barbaric chantings — in the
distance; near at hand, dying into distance again,
slow, dogged, toilsome— came to be to us one of the
typical features of the place.
After breakfast we put on our sun helmets and
went forth curiously to view the town. We found it
roughly divided into four quarters— the old Portu-
guese, the Arabic, the European, and the native.
The Portuguese comprises the outer fringe next the
waterfront of the inner bay. It is very narrow of
street, with whitewashed walls, balconies, and
wonderful carven and studded doors. The business
of the town is done here. The Arabic quarter lies
back of it— a maze of narrow alleys winding aim-
lessly here and there between high white buildings,
with occasionally the minarets and towers of a
mosque. This district harbours beside the upper
class Swahilis and Arabs a large number of East
69
AFRICAN CAMP FIRES
Indians. Still back of this are thousands of the
low grass, or mud and wattle huts of the natives,
their roofs thatched with straw or palm. These are
apparently arranged on little system. The small
European population lives atop the sea bluffs
beyond the old fort in the most attractive bungalows.
This, the most desirable location of all, has remained
open to them because heretofore the fierce wars
with which Mombasa, "the Island of Blood," has
been swept have made the exposed seaward lands
impossible.
No idle occupation can be more fascinating than
to wander about the mazes of this ancient town.
The variety of race and occupation is something
astounding. Probably the one human note that,
everywhere persisting, draws the whole together is
furnished by the water-carriers. Mombasa has no
water system whatever. The entire supply is
drawn from numberless picturesque wells scattered
everywhere in the crowded centre; and distributed
mainly in Standard Oil cans suspended at either
end of a short pole. By dint of constant daily exer-
cise, hauling water up from a depth and carrying it
various distances, these men have developed the
most beautifully powerful figures. They proceed
at a half trot, the slender poles, with forty pounds
at either end, seeming fairly to cut into their naked
70
MOMBASA
shoulders, muttering a word of warning to the
loiterers at every other breath — semeelay! semee-
lay! No matter in what part of Mombasa you mayhappen to be, or at what hour of the day or night,
you will meet these industrious little men trotting
along under their burdens.
Everywhere also are the women, carrying them-
selves proudly erect, with a free swing of the hips.
They wear invariably a single sheet of cotton cloth
printed in blue or black with the most astonishing
borders and spotty designs. This is drawn tight
just above the breasts, leaving the shoulders and
arms bare. Their hair is divided into perhaps a
dozen parts running lengthwise of the head from the
forehead to the nape of the neck, after the manner
of the stripes on a watermelon. Each part then
ends in a tiny twisted pigtail not over an inch long.
The lobes of their ears have been stretched until
they hold thick round disks about three inches in
diameter, ornamented by concentric circles of
different colours, with a red bull's eye for a centre.
The outer edges of the ears are then further decorated
with gold clasps set closely together. Many brace-
lets, necklaces, and armlets complete the get-up.
They are big women, with soft velvety skins, and a
proud and haughty carriage; the counterparts of
the men in the white robes and caps.
71
AFRICAN CAMP FIRES
By the way, it may be a good place here to remark
that these garments, and the patterned squares of
cloth worn by the women, are invariably most
spotlessly clean.
These, we learned, were the Swahilis, the ruling
class, the descendents of the slave traders. Beside
them are all sorts and conditions. Your true savage
pleased his own fancy as to dress and personal
adornment. The bushmen generally shaved the
edges of their wool to leave a nice close-fitting
natural skullcap, wore a single blanket draped from
one shoulder, and carried a war club. The ear lobe
seemed always to be stretched; sometimes sufficiently
to have carried a pint bottle. Indeed, white marma-
lade jars seemed to be very popular wear. Oneingenious person had acquired a dozen of the sort
of safety pins used to fasten curtains to their rings.
These he had snapped into the lobes, six on a side.
We explored for some time. One of the Swahilis
attached himself to us so unobtrusively that before
we knew it we had accepted him as guide. In that
capacity he realized an ideal, for he never addressed
a word to us, nor did he even stay in sight. We wan-
dered along at our sweet will, dawdling as slowly as
we pleased. The guide had apparently quite
disappeared. Look where we would we could in
no manner discover him. At the next corner we
72
MOMBASA
would pause, undecided as to what to do; there in
the middle distance would stand our friend, smiling.
When he was sure we had seen him and were about
to take the turn properly, he would disappear again.
Convoyed in this pleasant fashion we wound and
twisted up and down and round and about through
the most appalling maze. We saw the native mar-
kets with their vociferating sellers seated cross-legged
on tables behind piles of fruit or vegetables, while
an equally vociferating crowd surged up and down
the aisles. Gray parrots and little monkeys perched
everywhere about. Billy gave one of the monkeys
a banana. He peeled it exactly as a man would
have'done, smelled of it critically, and threw it back
at her in the most insulting fashion. We saw also
the rows of Hindu shops open to the street with their
gaudily dressed children of blackened eyelids, their
stolid dirty proprietors, and their women marvellous
in bright silks and massive bangles. In the thatched
native quarter were more of the fine Swahili womensitting cross-legged on the earth under low verandas,
engaged in different handicrafts; and chickens; and
many amusing naked children. We made friends
with many of them, communicating by laughter and
by signs, while our guide stood unobtrusively in the
middle distance waiting for us to come on.
Just at sunset he led us out to a great open space,
73
AFRICAN CAMP FIRES
with a tall palm in the centre of it and the gathering
of a multitude of people. A muzzein was clambering
into a high scaffold built of poles, whence shortly he
began to intone a long-drawn-out ^^Allah! Allah! il
Allah!" The coconut palms cut the sunset, and
the boabab trees — the fat, lazy boababs — looked
more monstrous than ever. We called our guide
and conferred on him the munificient sum of sixteen
and a half cents; with which, apparently muchpleased, he departed. Then slowly we wandered
back to the hotel.
74
ifl^^H'''-
' ^Ejtifi HHH^^^^^K
1
Fs^l^^^H"''^^^'
1
•1
|f*'^1
';^m^^ : tj 11
•}^m ''i . >fi^u^ ^ P^^i^^^^^^^H
1
W; 4"
^^^^^^^^B >
^
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'^1
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, . .-^- 1 ^. '^^^
PQ
IX
A TROPICAL JUNGLE
MANY months later, and after adventures else-
where described,* besides others not relevant
for the moment, F., an Englishman, and I returned
to Mombasa. We came from some hundred odd
miles in the interior where we had been exploring
for the sources and the course of the Tsavo River.
Now our purpose was to penetrate into the low, hot
wooded country along the coast known as the Shimba
Hills in quest of a rare beast called the sable antelope.
These hills could be approached in one of two
ways — by crossing the harbour, and then marching
two days afoot; or by voyaging up to the very end
of one of the long arms of the sea that extend manymiles inland. The latter involved dhows; depen-
dence on uncertain winds; favourable tides and a
heap of good luck. It was less laborious but most
uncertain. At this stage of the plan the hotel
manager came forward with the offer of a gasoline
launch, which we gladly accepted.
• "Land of FootprinU"
77
AFRICAN CAMP FIRES
We embarked about noon, storing our native
carriers and effects aboard a dhow hired for the
occasion. This we purposed towing. A very neatly
uniformed Swahili bearing on his stomach a highly
polished brass label as big as a door plate—"Harbour
Police" — threw duck fits over what he called
overloading the boat. He knew very little about
boats, but threw very competent duck fits. As we
did know something about boats we braved unknown
consequences by disregarding him utterly. Noconsequences ensued; unless perhaps to his ownhealth. When everything was aboard, that dhow
was pretty well down, but still well afloat. Then we
white men took our places in the launch.
This was a long narrow affair with a four-cylinder
thirty-horsepower engine. As she possessed no
speed gears, she had either plunge ahead full speed
or come to a stop; there were no compromises. Her
steering was managed by a tiller instead of a wheel;
so that a mere touch sufficed to swerve her ten feet
from her course. As the dhow was in no respect
built on such nervous lines, she did occasionally
some fancy and splashing curves.
The pilot of the launch turned out to be a sandy-
haired Yankee who had been catching wild animals
for Barnum & Bailey's Circus. While waiting for
his ship, he, being a proverbial handy Yankee, had
78
A TROPICAL JUNGLE
taken on this job. He became quite interested in
telling us this, and at times forgot his duties at the
tiller. Then that racing-launch would take a wild
swoop; the clumsy old dhow astern would try vainly,
with much spray and dangerous careening, to follow;
the compromise course would all but upset her; the
spray would fly; the safari boys would take their
ducking; the boat boys would yell and dance and
lean frantically against the two long sweeps with
which they tried to steer. In this wild and untram-
melled fashion we careered up the bay, too interested
in our own performances to pay much attention to
the scenery. The low shores, with their coconut
groves gracefully rising above the mangrove tangle,
slipped by; and the distant, blue Shimba Hills came
nearer.
After a while we turned into a narrower channel
with a good many curves, and a quite unknown
depth of water. Down this we whooped at the full
speed of our thirty-horsepower engine. Occasional
natives, waist deep and fishing, stared after us
bung-eyed. The Yankee ventured a guess as to
how hard she would hit on a mudbank. She
promptly proved his guess a rank underestimate
by doing so. We fell in a heap on the bottom.
The dhow bore down on us with majestic momentum.The boat boys leaned frantically on their sweeps and
79
AFRICAN CAMP FIRES
managed just to avoid us. The dhow also rammedthe mudbank.
A dozen reluctant boys hopped overboard and
pushed us off again. We pursued our merry way
again. On either hand now appeared fish weirs of
plaited coco fibre; which, being planted in the shal-
lows, helped us materially to guess at the channel.
Naked men, up to their shoulders in the water,
attended to some mysterious need of the nets, or
emerged dripping and sparkling with baskets of
fish atop their heads. The channel grew even
narrower, and the mudbanks more frequent. Wedodged a dozen in our headlong course. Our
local guide, a Swahili in tarboosh and a beautiful
saffron robe, showed signs of strong excitement.
We were to stop, he said, around the next bend;
and at this rate we never could stop. The
Yankee remarked, superfluously, that it would be
handy if this dod-blistered engine had a clutch;
adding as an afterthought, that no matter how long
he stayed in the tropics his nose peeled. We asked
what we should do if we over-carried our prospective
landing place. He replied that the dod-blistered
thing did have a reverse. While thus conversing
we shot around a corner into a complete cul-de-sac!
Everything was shut off hastily, and an instant later
we and the dhow smashed up high and dry on a cozy
80
A TROPICAL JUNGLE
mud beach! We drew a deep breath and looked
around us.
Mangrove thicket to the edge of the slimy ooze;
trees behind — that was all we could see. We gave
our attention to the business of getting our men, our
effects, and ourselves ashore. The ooze proved to be
just above knee deep. The porters had a fearful
and floundering time, and received much obvious
comment from us perched in the bow of the launch.
Finally everything was debarked. F. and I took off
our boots; but our gunbearers expressed such horror
at the mere thought of our plunging into the mud,
that we dutifully climbed them pick-a-back and were
carried. The hard shell beach was a hundred feet
away, occupying a little recess where the persistent
tough mangroves drew back. From it led a narrow
path through the thicket. We waved and shouted
a farewell to the crews of the launch and the dhow.
The path for a hundred feet was walled in by the
mangroves through which scuttled and rattled the
big land crabs. Then suddenly we found ourselves
in a story-book, tropical, paradise. The tall coco
palms rose tufted above everything; the fans of the
younger palms waved beloW; bananas thrust the
banners of their broad leaves wherever they could
find space; creepers and vines flung the lush luxuri-
ance of their greenery over all the earth and into
8i
AFRICAN CAMP FIRES
the depths of all the half-guessed shadows. In no
direction could one see unobstructed farther than
twenty feet, except straight up; and there one could
see just as far as the tops of the palms. It was
like being in a room; a green, hot, steamy, lovely
room. Very bright-coloured birds that ought really
to have been at home in their cages fluttered about.
We had much vigorous clearing to do to make
room for our tents. By the time the job was
finished we were all pretty hot. Several of the boys
made vain attempts to climb for nuts; but without
success. We had brought them with us from the
interior where coconuts do not grow; and they did
not understand the method. They could swarm
up the tall slim stems all right; but could not manage
to get through the downward-pointing spikes of the
dead leaves. F. tried and failed, to the great amuse-
ment of the men; but to the greater amusement of
myself. I was a wise person, and lay on my back
on a canvas cot, so it was not much bother to look
up, and enjoyed life. Not to earn absolutely the
stigma of laziness, I tried to shoot some nuts down.
This did not work either, for the soft, spongy stems
closed around the bullet holes. Then a little
wizened monkey of a Swahili porter, having watched
our futile performances with interest, nonchalantly
swarmed up; in some mysterious manner wriggled
Sz
A TROPICAL JUNGLE
through the defences; and perched in the top whence
he dropped to us a dozen big green nuts. Our men
may not have been much of a success at climbing
for nuts; but they were passed masters at the art of
opening them. Three or four clips from their
awkward swordlike pangas, and we were each pre-
sented with a clean, beautiful, natural goblet brim-
ming full of a refreshing drink.
About this time a fine figure of a man drifted into
camp. He was very smooth-skinned, very dignified,
very venerable. He was pure Swahili, though of
the savage branch of that race, and had none of the
negro type of countenance. In fact so like was he
in face, hair, short square beard and genial dignity
to a certain great-uncle of mine that it was very hard
to remember that he had on only a small strip of
cloth, that he was cherishing as a great treasure
a piece of soap box he had salvaged from the shore,
and that his skin was red chocolate. I felt inclined
to talk to him as to an intellectual equal, especially
as he had a fine resonant bass voice that in itself
lent his remarks some importance. However, I gave
him two ordinary wood screws, showed him how they
screwed in and out, and left him happy.
After supper the moon rose, casting shadows of
new and unknown shapes through this strangely new
and unknown forest. A thin white mist ascending
83
AFRICAN CAMP FIRES
everywhere from the soil tempered but could not
obscure the white brilliance. The thermometer
stood now only 82; but the dripping tropical sweat-
bath in which our camp was pitched considerably
raised the sensible heat. A bird with a most
diabolical shrieking note cursed in the shadows.
Another, a pigeonlike creature, began softly, and
continued to repeat in diminishing energy until it
seemed to have run down, like a piece of clockwork.
Our way next morning led for some time through
this lovely but damp jungle. Then we angled up
the side of a hill to emerge into the comparatively
open country atop what we Westerners would call
a "hog's back"— a long, narrow spurlike ridge
mounting slowly to the general elevation of the
main hills. Here were high green bushes, with little
free open passages between them; and occasionally
meadowlike openings running down the slopes on
one side or the other. Before us, some miles distant,
were the rounded blue hills.
We climbed steadily. It was still very early
morning; but already the day was hot. Pretty soon
we saw over the jungle to the gleaming waters of
the inlet; and then to the sea. Our "hog's back"
led us past a ridge of the hills, and before we knew it
we had been deposited in a shallow valley three or
four miles between parallel ridges; the said valley
84
A TROPICAL JUNGLE
being at a considerable elevation, and itself diversi-
fied with rolling hills, ravines, meadow land, and
wide flats. On many of the ridges were scattered
coco palms; and occasional mango groves; while
many smokes attested the presence of natives.
These we found in shamhas or groups of little
farms, huddled all together, with wilderness and
brush and trees or the wide-open green grass lawn
between. The houses were very large and neat
looking. They were constructed quite ingeniously
from coco branches. Each branch made one mat.
The leaves were all brought over to the same side of
the stem, and then plaited. The resulting mat was
then six or seven feet long by twelve to sixteen inches
broad, and could be used for a variety of purposes.
Indeed we found Melville's chapter in "Typhee"
as to the various uses of the coconut palm by no
means exaggerated. The nuts, leaves, and fibre
supplied every conceivable human want.
The natives were a pleasant, friendly, good-looking
lot. In fact so like was their cast of countenance
to that of the white-skinned people we were accus-
tomed to seeing that we had great difficulty in
realizing that they were mere savages, costume —or lack of it— to the contrary notwithstanding.
Under a huge mango tree two were engaged in
dividing a sheep. Sixty or seventy others stood
8s
AFRICAN CAMP FIRES
solemnly around watching. It may have been a
religious ceremony, for all I know; but the affair
looked to be about two parts business to sixty of
idle and cheerful curiosity. We stopped and talked
to them a little, chaffed the pretty girls — they were
really pretty — and marched on.
About noon our elegant guide stopped, struck an
attitude, and pointed with his silver-headed rattan
cane.
"This," said he, "is where we must camp."
We marched through a little village. A family
party sat beneath the veranda of a fine building;
a very old wrinkled couple; two stalwart beautiful
youths; a young mother suckling her baby; two
young girls; and eight or ten miscellaneous and
naked youngsters. As the rest of the village ap-
peared to be empty, I imagined this to be the
caretaker's family, and the youngsters to belong to
others. We stopped and spoke, were answered
cheerfully, suggested that we might like to buy
chickens, and offered a price. Instantly with
a whoop of joy the lot of them were afoot. The fowl
waited for no further intimations of troublous times,
but fled squawking. They had been there before.
So had our hosts; for inside a minute they had
returned, each with a chicken — and a broad grin.
After due payment we proceeded on a few hundred
86
A TROPICAL JUNGLE
yards and pitched camp beneath two huge mango
trees.
Besides furnishing one of the most delicious of
the tropical fruits, the mango is also one of the most
beautiful of trees. It is tall, spreads very wide, and
its branches sweep to within ten feet of the ground.
Its perfect symmetry combined with the size and
deep green of its leaves causes it to resemble, from
a short distance, a beautiful green hill. Beneath its
umbrella one finds dense shade, unmottled by a
single ray of sunlight, so that one can lie beneath it
in full confidence. For, parenthetically, even a
single ray of this tropical sunlight is to the unpro-
tected a very dangerous thing. But the leaves of
the mango have this peculiarity, which distin-
guishes it from all other trees — namely that they
grow only at the very ends of the small twigs and
branches. As these, of course, grow only at the
ends of the big limbs, it follows that from beneath
the mango looks like a lofty green dome, a veritable
pantheon of the forest.
We made our camp under one of these trees; gave
ourselves all the space we could use; and had plenty
left over— five tents and a cook camp, with no
crowding. It was one of the pleasantest camps
I ever saw. Our green dome overhead protected
us absolutely from the sun; high sweet grass grew all
87
AFRICAN CAMP FIRES
about us; the breeze wandered lazily up from the
distant Indian Ocean. Directly before our tent
door the slope fell gently away through a sparse
coconut grove whose straight stems panelled our
view, then rose again to the clear-cut outline of a
straight ridge opposite. The crest of this was sen-
tinelled by tall scattered coconut trees, the "burst-
ing star" pyrotechnic effect of their tops particularly
fine against the sky.
After a five hours' tropical march uphill we were
glad to sit under our green dome, to look at our
view, to enjoy the little breeze, and to drink some of
the coconuts our friends the villagers brought in.
88
X
THE SABLE
A BOUT three o'clock I began to feel rested and
l\. ambitious. Therefore I called up our elegant
guide and Memba Sasa, and set out on my first hunt
for sable. F. was rather more done up by the hard
morning, and so did not go along. The guide wore
still his red tarboosh, his dark short jacket, his saffron
yellow nether garment— it was not exactly a skirt —and his silver-headed rattan cane. The only change
he made was to tuck up the skirt, leaving his long
legs bare. It hardly seemed altogether a suitable
costume for hunting; but he seemed to know what
he was about.
We snooped along ridges, and down into ravines,
and across guUeys choked with brush. Horrible
thickets alternated and occasionally surrounded
open green meadows hanging against the sidehills.
As we proceeded the country became rougher, the
ravines more precipitous. We struggled up steep
hills, fairly bucking our way through low growth
that proved all but impenetrable. The idea was to
89
AFRICAN CAMP FIRES
find a sable feeding in one of the little open glades;
but whenever I allowed myself to think of the many-
adverse elements of the game, the chances seemed
very slim. It took a half hour to get from one
glade to the next; there were thousands of glades;
the sable is a rare shy animal that likes dense cover
fully as well if not better than the open. Sheer rank
bull luck alone seemed the only hope. And as I felt
my strength going in that cruel struggle against
heavy brush and steep hills, I began to have very
strong doubts indeed as to that sable.
For it was cruel, hard work. In this climate one
hailed a car or a rickshaw to do an errand two blocks
away, and considered himself quite a hero if he took
a leisurely two-mile stroll along the cliff heads at
sunset. Here I was, after a five-hour uphill march,
bucking into brush and through country that would
be considered difficult going even in Canada. At
the end of twenty minutes my every garment was
not wringing, but dripping, wet so that when I
carried my rifle over my arm, water ran down the
barrel and off the muzzle in a steady stream. After
a bit of this my knees began to weaken; and it
became a question of saving energy, of getting along
somehow, and of leaving the actual hunting to
Memba Sasa and the guide. If they had shown mea sable, I very much doubt if I could have hit it.
90
THE SABLE
However, we did not see one; and I staggered into
camp at dusk pretty well exhausted. From the
most grateful hot bath and clean clothes I derived
much refreshment. Shortly I was sitting in mycanvas chair, sipping a coconut, and describing
the condition of affairs to F., who was naturally very
curious as to how the trick was done.
"Now," I concluded, "I know just about what
I can and what I cannot do. Three days more of
this sort of work will feed me up plenty. If we do
not run across a sable in that time, I'm afraid we
don't get any."
"Two days will do for me," said he.
We called up the guide and questioned him closely.
He seemed quite confident; and asserted that in
this country sable were found — when they were
found at all, which was not often. They must be
discovered in the small grassy openings. We began
to understand why so very few people get sable.
We dismissed the guide, and sat quietly smoking
in the warm soft evening. The air was absolutely
still save for various night insects and birds, and
the weird calling of natives across the valleys.
Far out toward the sea a thunderstorm flashed ; and
after a long interval the rumblings came to us. So
very distant was It that we paid it little attention,
save as an interesting background to our own still
91
AFRICAN CAMP FIRES
evening. Fairly between sentences of our slow-
conversation, however, it rushed up to the zenith,
blotting out the stars. The tall palms began to
sway and rustle in the forerunning breeze. Then
with a swoop it was upon us, a tempest of fury.
We turned in; and all night long the heavy deluges
of rain fell, roaring like surf on an unfriendly coast.
By morning this had fallen to a light steady drizzle
in which we started off quite happily. In this
climate one likes to get wet. The ground was
sodden and deep with muck. Within a mile of camp
we saw many fresh buffalo tracks.
This time we went downhill, and still downhill
through openings among patches of great forest
trees. The new leaves were just coming out in
pinks and russets, so that the effect at a little dis-
tance was almost precisely that of our autumn
foliage in the duller phases. So familiar thus were
made some of the low rounded knolls that for an
instant we were respectively back in the hills of
Surrey or Michigan — and told each other so.
Thus we moved slowly out from the dense cover
to the grass openings. Far over on another ridge
F. called my attention to something jet-black and
indeterminate. In another country I should have
named it as a charred log on an old pine burning;
for that was precisely what it looked like. We92
THE SABLE
glanced at it casually through our glasses. It was a
sable buck lying down right out in the open. Hewas black and sleek, and we could make out his
sweeping scimitar horns.
Memba Sasa and the Swahili dropped flat on their
faces while F. and I crawled slowly and cautiously
through the mud until we had gained the cover of
a shallow ravine that ran in the beast's general
direction. Noting carefully a certain small thicket
as landmark, we stooped and moved as fast as we
could down to that point of vantage. There we
cautiously parted the grasses and looked. The sable
had disappeared. The place where he had been
lying was plainly to be identified; and there was no
cover save a tiny bush between two and three feet
high. We were quite certain he had neither seen nor
winded us. Either he had risen and gone forward
into the ravine up which we had made our stalk,
or else he had entered the small thicket. F. agreed
to stay on watch where he was while I slipped back
and examined the earth to leeward of the thicket.
I had hardly crawled ten yards, however, before
the gentle snapping of F.'s fingers recalled me to
his side.
" He's behind that bush," he whispered in my ear.
I looked. The bush was hardly big enough to
conceal a setter dog; and the sable is somewhat
93
AFRICAN CAMP FIRES
larger than our elk. Nevertheless F. insisted that
the animal was standing behind it, and that he had
caught the toss of its head. We lay still for some
time, while the soft, warm rain drizzled down on us,
our eyes riveted on the bush. And then — we
caught the momentary flash of curved horns as the
sable tossed his head. It seemed incredible even
then that the tiny bush should conceal so large a
beast. As a matter of fact we later found that the
bush grew on a slight elevation behind which was
a depression. In this the sable stood, patiently
enduring the drizzle.
We waited some time in hopes he would move
forward a foot or so; but apparently he had selected
his loafing place with care, and liked it. The danger
of a shift of wind was always present. Finally
I slipped back over the brink of the ravine, moved
three yards to the left, and crawled up through the
tall dripping grass to a new position behind a little
bush. Cautiously raising my head I found I could
see plainly the sable's head and part of his shoulders.
My position was cramped and out of balance for
offhand shooting; but I did my best, and heard
the loud plunk of the hit. The sable made off at a
fast though rather awkward gallop, wheeled for an
instant a hundred yards farther on, received another
bullet in the shoulder, and disappeared over the
94
THE SABLE
brow of the hill. We raced over the top to get in
another shot, and found him stone dead.
He was a fine beast, jet-black in coat with white
markings on the face, red-brown ears, and horns
sweeping up and back scimitar fashion. He stood
four feet and six inches at the shoulder, and his horns
were second best ever shot in British East Africa.
This beast has been described by Heller as a new
subspecies, and named Rooseveltii. His determina-
tion was based upon an immature buck and a doe
shot by Kermit Roosevelt. The determination of
subspecies on so slight evidence seems to me un-
scientific in the extreme. While the immature
males do exhibit the general brown tone mainly
relied on by Mr. Heller, the mature buck differs
in no essential from the type sable. I find the
alleged subspecies is not accepted by European
scientists.
95
XI
A MARCH ALONG THE COAST
IHAD now a most comfortable feeling that mytask was done, that suddenly the threatening
clouds of killing work had been cleared up, and that
now I was privileged to loaf and invite my soul on
this tropical green hilltop while poor F. put in the
days trying to find another sable. Every morning
he started out before daylight. I could see the light
of his lantern outside the tent; and I stretched my-
self in the luxurious consciousness that I should
hear no deprecating but insistent "hodie*' from myboy until I pleased to invite it. In the afternoon or
evening F. would return, quite exhausted and drip-
ping, with only the report of new country traversed.
No sable; no tracks of sable; no old signs, even, of
sable. Gradually it was borne in on me how lucky
I was to have come upon my magnificent specimen
so promptly and in such favourable circumstances.
A leisurely breakfast alone, with the sun climbing;
then the writing of notes, a little reading, and
perhaps a stroll to the village or along the top of the
96
A MARCH ALONG THE COAST
ridge. At the heat of noon a siesta, with a cool
coconut at my elbow. The view was beautiful
on all sides; our great tree full of birds; the rising and
dying winds in the palms like the gathering oncoming
rush of the rains. From mountain to mountain
sounded the wild, far-carrying ululations of the
natives, conveying news or messages across the wide
jungle. Toward sunset I wandered out in the
groves, enjoying the many bright flowers, the tall,
sweet grasses, and the coco palms against the sky.
Piles of coconuts lay on the ground, covered each
with a leaf plaited in a peculiarly individual manner
to indicate ownership. Small boys, like little black
imps, clung naked halfway up the slim trunks of
the palms, watching me bright-eyed above the
undergrowth. In all directions, crossing and re-
crossing, ran a maze of beaten paths. Each led
somewhere, but it would require the memory of—well, of a native, to keep all their destinations in
mind.
I used to follow some of them to their ending in
little coco-leaf houses on the tops of knolls or beneath
mangoes; and would talk with the people. They
were very grave and very polite; and seemed to be
living out their lives quite correctly according to
their conceptions. Again, it was borne in on methat these people are not stumbling along the course
97
AFRICAN CAMP FIRES
of evolution in our footsteps, but have gone as far
in their path as we have in ours; that they have
reached at least as complete a correspondence with
their environment as we with our own.*
If F. had not returned by the time I reached camp,
I would seat myself in my canvas chair, and thence
dispense justice, advice, or medical treatment.
If none of these things seemed demanded, I smoked
my pipe. To me one afternoon came a big-framed,
old, dignified man, with the heavy beard, the really
noble features, the high forehead and the blank
statue eyes of the blind Homer. He was led by a
very small, very bright-eyed naked boy. At some
twenty feet distance he squatted down cross-legged
before me. For quite five minutes he sat there
silent, while I held down my camp chair, smoked
and waited. At last he spoke in a rolling deep bass
voice rich and vibrating— a delight to hear.
^^Jamho (greeting)!" said he.
^^Jambo!" I replied mildly.
Again a five-minute silence. I had begun reading,
and had all but forgotten his presence.
^^Jambo hwana (greeting, master)!" he rolled out.
"Jambo!" I repeated.
The same dignified, unhasting pause.
"Jambo hwana ni'kubwa (greeting great master)!"
*For a fuller discussion see "The Land of Footprints."
98
A MARCH ALONG THE COAST
^^Jambof^ quoth I, and went on reading. The
sun was dropping, but the old man seemed in no
hurry.
^''Jambo hwana rri'kuhwa sana (greeting most
mighty master) !" he boomed at last.
"/^w^^o-'"saidI.
This would seem to strike the superlative, and
I expected now that he would state his business,
but the old man had one more shot in his locker.
^^Jamho hwana rrCkuhzva kaheesa sana (greeting
mightiest possible master) !" it came.
Then in due course he delicately hinted that a gift
of tobacco would not come amiss.
F. returned a trifle earlier than usual to admit
that his quest was hopeless, that his physical forces
were, for the time being, at an end, and that he was
willing to go out.
Accordingly very early next morning we set out
by the glimmer of a lantern, hoping to get a good
start on our journey before the heat of the day
became too severe. We did gain something, but
performed several unnecessary loops and semicircles
in the maze of beaten paths before we finally struck
into one that led down the slope toward the sea.
Shortly after the dawn came up "like thunder" in
its swiftness, followed almost immediately by the
sun.
99
AFRICAN CAMP FIRES
Our way now led along the wide flat between the
seashore and the Shimba Hills in which we had been
hunting. A road ten feet wide and innocent of
wheels ran with obstinate directness up and down
the slight contours and through the bushes and
coconut groves that lay in its path. So mathe-
matically straight was it that only when perspective
closed it in, or when it dropped over the summit of
a little rise, did the eye lose the effect of its inter-
minability. The country through which this road
led was various — open bushy veldt with sparse
trees, dense jungle, coconut groves, tall and cool.
In the shadows of the latter were the thatched native
villages. To the left always ran the blue Shimba
Hills; and far away to the right somewhere we heard
the grumbling of the sea.
Every hundred yards or so we met somebody.
Even this early the road was thronged. By far the
majority were the almost naked natives of the
district, pleasant, brown-skinned people with good
features. They carried things. These things varied
from great loads balanced atop to dainty impromptu
baskets woven of coco-leaves and containing each a
single coconut. They smiled on us, returned our
greeting, and stood completely aside to let us pass.
Other wayfarers were of more importance. Small
groups of bearded dignitaries, either upper-class
lOO
A MARCH ALONG THE COAST
Swahili or pure Arabs, strolled slowly along, appar-
ently with limitless leisure, but evidently bound
somewhere, nevertheless. They replied to our
greetings with great dignity. Once, also, we over-
took a small detachment of Soudanese troops moving.
They were scattered over several miles of road.
A soldier, most impressive and neat in khaki and
red tarboosh and sash; then two or three of his
laughing, sleek women, clad in the thin, patterned
" 'Mericani," glittering with gold ornaments; then
a half dozen ragged porters carrying official but
battered, painted wooden kit boxes, or bags, or
miscellaneous curious plunder; then more troopers;
and so on for miles. They all drew aside for us most
respectfully; and the soldiers saluted, very smart
and military.
Under the broad-spreading mangoes near the
villages we came upon many open markets in full
swing. Each vendor squatted on his heels behind
his wares, while the purchasers or traders wandered
here and there making offers. The actual commerce
compared with the amount of laughing, joking,
shrieking joy of the occasion as one to a thousand.
Generally three or four degenerate looking dirty
East Indians slunk about, very crafty, very insinuat-
ing, very ready and skillful to take what advantages
they could. I felt a strong desire to kick every one
lOI
AFRICAN CAMP FIRES
of them out from these joyful concourses of happy
people. Generally we sat down for a while in these
markets, and talked to the people a little, and
perhaps purchased some of the delicious fruit.
They had a small delicate variety of banana, most
wonderful, the like of which I have seen nowhere
else. We bought forty of these for a coin worth
about eight cents. Besides fruit, they oflFered coco-
nuts in all forms, grain, woven baskets, small articles
of handicraft— and fish. The latter were farther
from the sea than they should have been! These
occasional halts greatly refreshed us for more of that
endless road.
For all this time we were very hot. As the sun
mounted, the country fairly steamed. From the
end of my rifle barrel, which I carried across my fore-
arm, a steady trickle of water dripped into the road.
We neither of us had a dry stitch on us; and our
light garments clung to us thoroughly wet through.
At first we tried the military method, and marched
fifty minutes to rest ten; but soon discovered that
twenty-five minutes' work to five minutes off was
more practical. The sheer weight of the sun was
terrific; after we had been exposed to it for any
great length of time — as across several wide open
spaces — we entered the steaming shade of the
jungle with gratitude. At the end of seven hours,
102
A MARCH ALONG THE COAST
however, we most unexpectedly came through a
dense coconut grove plump on the banks of the
harbour at Kilindini.
Here, after making arrangements for the transport
of our safari, when It should arrive, we entrusted
ourselves to a small boy and a cranky boat. Anhour later, clad in tropical white, with cool drinks
at our elbows, we sat in easy chairs on the veranda
of the Mombasa Club.
The clubhouse is built on a low cliff at the water's
edge. It looks across the blue waters of the bay to a
headland crowned with coco palms; and beyond
the headland to the Indian Ocean. The cool trades
sweep across that veranda. We idly watched a lone
white oarsman pulling strongly against the wind
through the tide rips, evidently bent on exercise.
We speculated on the incredible folly of wanting
exercise; and forgot him. An hour later a huge
saffron yellow squall rose from China 'cross the way,
filled the world with an unholy light, lashed the
reluctant sea to whitecaps, and swooped screaming
on the coco palms. Police boats to rescue the idiot
oarsman! Much minor excitement! Great rushing
to and fro! We continued to sit In our lounging
chairs, one hand on our cool long drinks.
icu
XII
THE FIRE
WE WERE very tired, so we turned in early.
Unfortunately our rooms were immediately
over the billiard room where a bibulous and cosmo-
politan lot were earnestly endeavouring to bolster
up by further proof the fiction that a white mancannot retain his health in the tropics. The process
was pretty rackety, and while it could not keep us
awake, it prevented us from falling thoroughly
asleep. At length, and suddenly, the props of noise
fell away from me, and I sank into a grateful, pro-
found abyss.
Almost at once, however, I was dragged back to
consciousness. Mohamet stood at my bedside.
"Bwana," he proffered to my rather angry in-
quiry, "all the people have gone to the fire. It is a
very large fire. I thought you would like to see it."
I glanced out of the window at the reddening sky,
thrust my feet into a pair of slippers and went forth
in my pajamas to see what I could see.
We threaded our way through many narrow dark
204
THE FIRE
and deserted streets, beneath balconies that over-
hung, past walls over which nodded tufted palms,
until a loud and increasing murmuring told us we
were nearing the centre of disturbance. Shortly we
came to the outskirts of the excited crowd, and
beyond them saw the red furnace glow.
^^Semeelay! Semeelayr' warned Mohamet authori-
tatively; and the bystanders, seeing a white face,
gave me passage.
All of picturesque Mombasa was afoot — Arabs,
Swahilis, Somalis, savages, Indians — the whole lot.
They moved restlessly in the narrow streets; they
hung over the edges of balconies; they peered from
barred windows; interested dark faces turned up
everywhere in the flickering light. One woman,
a fine, erect biblical figure, stood silhouetted on a
flat housetop and screamed steadily. I thought
she must have at least one baby in the fire, but it
seems she was only excited.
The fire was at present confined to two buildings,
in which it was raging fiercely. Its spread, however,
seemed certain; and, as It was surrounded by ware-
houses of valuable goods, moving was in full swing.
A frantic white man stood at the low doorway of one
of these dungeonlike stores hastening the movements
of an unending string of porters. As each emerged
bearing a case on his shoulder, the white man urged
105
AFRICAN CAMP FIRES
him to a trot. I followed up the street to see where
these valuables were being taken, and what were the
precautions against theft. Around the next corner,
it seemed. As each excited perspiring porter trotted
up, he heaved his burden from his head or his
shoulders, and promptly scampered back for another
load. They were loyal and zealous men; but their
headpieces were deficient inside. For the burdens
that they saved from the fire happened to be cases
of gin in bottles. At least, it was in bottles until
the process of saving had been completed. Then it
trickled merrily down the gutter. I went back and
told the frantic white man about it. He threw up
both hands to heaven and departed.
By dodging from street to street Mohamet and
I succeeded in circling the whole disturbance, and so
came at length to a public square. Here was a vast
throng, and a very good place, so I climbed atop a
rescued bale of cotton the better to see.
Mombasa has no water system, but a wonderful
corps of water-carriers. These were in requisition
to a man. They disappeared down through the
wide gates of the customs enclosure, their naked,
muscular, light-brown bodies gleaming with sweat,
their Standard Oil cans dangling merrily at the ends
of slender poles. A moment later they emerged, the
cans full of salt water from the bay, the poles seeming
io6
THE FIRE
fairly to bite Into their bare shoulders as they teetered
along at their rapid, swaying, burdened gait.
The moment they entered the square they were
seized upon from a dozen different sides. There was
no system at all. Every owner of property was out
for himself, and intended to get as much of the
precious water as he could. The poor carriers were
pulled about, jerked violently here and there,
besought, commanded to bring their loads to one
or the other of the threatened premises. Vocifera-
tions, accusations, commands arose to screams.
One old graybeard occupied himself by standing
on tiptoe and screeching, "Maji! majil majif at
the top of his voice, as though that added anything
to the visible supply. The water-carrier of the
moment disappeared in a swirl of excited contestants.
He was attending strictly to business, looking
neither to right nor to left, pushing forward as
steadily as he could, gasping mechanically his cus-
tomary warning: ^^Semeelay! Semeelayr^ Some-
how, eventually, he and his comrades must have got
somewhere; for after an interval he returned with
empty buckets. Then every blessed fool of a
property owner took a whack at his bare shoulders
as he passed, shrieking hysterically, '^Haya! haya!
pesil pesir^ and the like to men already doing their
best. It was a grand sight!
107
AFRICAN CAMP FIRES
In the meantime the fire itself was roaring away.
The old graybeard suddenly ceased crying maji,
and darted forward to where I stood on the bale of
cotton. With great but somewhat flurried respect
he begged me to descend. I did so, somewhat
curious as to what he might be up to, for the cotton
was at least two hundred feet from the fire. Im-
mediately he began to tug and heave; the bale was
almost beyond his strength; but after incredible
exertions he lifted one side of it, poised it for a
moment, got his shoulder under it, and rolled it
over once. Then he darted away and resumed his
raucous crying for water. I climbed back again.
Thrice more, at intervals, he repeated this per-
formance. The only result was to daub with mudevery possible side of that bale. I hope it was his
property.
You must remember that I was observing the
heavy artillery of the attack on the conflagration.
Individual campaigns were everywhere in progress.
I saw one man standing on the roof of a threatened
building. He lowered slowly, hand over hand, a
small tea kettle at the end of a string. This was
filled by a friend in the street, whereupon the manhauled it up again, slowly, hand over hand, and
solemnly dashed its contents into the mouth of the
furnace. Thousands of other men on roofs, in
io8
THE FIRE
balconies, on the street, were doing the same thing.
Some had ordinary cups which they filled a block
away! The limit of efficiency was a pail. Nobody
did anything in concert with anybody else. The sight
of these thousands of little midgets, each with his
teacup, or his teapot, or his tin pail, throwing each
his mite of water— for which he had to walk a block
or so— into the ravening roaring furnace of flame
was a sight as pathetic or as comical as you please.
They did not seem to have a show in the world.
Nevertheless, to my vast surprise, the old system
of the East won out at last. The system of the East
is that if you get enough labour you can accomplish
anything. Little by little those thousands of tea-
kettles of water had their aggregate effect. The
flames fed themselves out and died down leaving the
contiguous buildings unharmed save for a little
scorching. In two hours all was safe, and I returned
to the hotel, having enjoyed myself hugely. I had,
however, in the interest and excitement, forgotten
how deadly is the fever of Mombasa. Midnight in
pajamas did the business; and shortly I paid well
for the fun.
109
XIII
UP FROM THE COAST
NAIROBI is situated at the far edge of the great
Athi Plains and just below a range of hills.
It might about as well have been anywhere else; and
perhaps better a few miles back in the higher country.
Whether the funny little narrow guage railroad
exists for Nairobi, or Nairobi for the railroad, it
would be difficult to say. Between Mombasa and
this interior placed-to-order town, certainly, there is
nothing, absolutely nothing, either in passengers or
freight, to justify building the line. That distance
is if I remember it correctly about three hundred
and twenty miles. A dozen or so names of stations
appear on the map. These are water tanks, tele-
graph stations, or small groups of tents in which
dwell black labourers — on the railroad.
The way climbs out from the tropical steaming
coast belt to and across the high scrub desert, and
then through lower rounded hills to the plains.
On the desert is only dense thorn brush — and a
possibility that the newcomer, if he looks very closely,
113
AFRICAN CAMP FIRES
may to his excitement glimpse his first game in
Africa. This is a stray duiker or so, tiny grass
antelopes a foot high. Also in this land is Thirst;
so that alongside the locomotives, as they struggle
up grade, in bad seasons, run natives to catch
precious drops.* An impalpable red dust sifts
through and into everything. When one descends
at Voi for dinner he finds his fellow travellers have
changed complexion. The pale clerk from indoor
Mombasa has put on a fine healthy sunburn; and the
company in general present a rich out-of-doors
bloom. A chance dab with a white napkin comes
away like fresh paint, however.
You clamber back into the compartment, with its
latticed sun shades and its smoked glass windows;
you let down the narrow canvas bunk; you unfold
your rug, and settle yourself for repose. It is a
difficult matter. Everything you touch is gritty.
The air is close and stifling, like the smoke-charged
air of a tunnel. If you try to open a window you
are suffocated with more of the red dust. At last
you fall into a doze; to awaken nearly frozen! The
train has climbed into what is, after weeks of the
tropics, comparative cold; and if you have not been
warned to carry wraps, you are in danger of con-
gestions.
*The Government does much nowadays by means of tank cars.
114
UP FROM THE COAST
The gray dawn comes; and shortly, in the sudden
tropical fashion, the full light. You look out on a
wide smiling grass country, with dips and swales,
and brushy river bottoms, and long slopes and hills
thrusting up in masses from down below the horizon,
and singly here and there in the immensities nearer
at hand. The train winds and doubles on itself
up the gentle slopes and across the imperceptibly
rising plains. But the interest is not in these wide
prospects, beautiful and smiling as they may be,
but in the game. It is everywhere. Far in the
distance the herds twinkle, half guessed in the
shimmer of the bottom lands or dotting the sides
of the hills. Nearer at hand it stares as the train
rumbles and sways laboriously past. Occasionally
it even becomes necessary to whistle aside some
impertinent kongoni that has placed himself between
the metals! The newcomer has but a theoretical
knowledge at best of all these animals; and he is
intensely interested in identifying the various
species. The hartebeeste and the wildebeeste he
learns quickly enough; and of course the zebra and
the giraffe are unmistakable; but the smaller gazelles
are legitimate subjects for discussion. The wonder
of the extraordinary abundance of these wild animals
mounts as the hours slip by. At the stops for water
or for orders the passengers gather from their
AFRICAN CAMP FIRES
different compartments to detail excitedly to each
other what they have seen. There is always an
honest super-enthusiast who believes he has seen
rhinoceros, lions, or leopards. He is looked upon
with envy by the credulous, and with exasperation
by all others.
So the little train puffs and tugs along. Suddenly
it happens on a barbed-wire fence, and immediately
after enters the town of Nairobi. The game has
persisted right up to that barbed wire fence.
That station platform is thronged with a hetero-
geneous multitude of people. The hands of a dozen
raggetty black boys are stretched out for luggage.
The newcomer sees with delight a savage with a tin
can in his stretched ear lobe; another with a set of
wooden skewers set fanwise around the edge of the
ear; he catches a glimpse of a beautiful naked
creature, very proud, very decorated with beads and
heavy polished wire. Then he is ravished away
by the friend, or agent, or hotel representative who
has met him, and hurried out through the gates
between the impassive and dignified Sikh sentries
to the hack. I believe nobody but the newcomer
ever rides in the hack; and then but once, from the
station to the hotel. After that he uses rickshaws.
In fact it is probable that the hack is maintained
for the sole purpose of giving the newcomer a grand
ii6
UP FROM THE COAST
and impressive entrance. This brief fleeting quarter
hour of glory is unique and passes. It is like crossing
the Line, or the first kiss, something that in its
nature cannot be repeated.
The hack was once a noble vehicle, compounded
of opulent curves, with a very high driver's box in
front, a little let-down bench, and a deep luxurious
shell-shaped back seat reclining in which one
received the adulation of the populace. That was
in its youth. Now in its age the varnish is gone;
the upholstery of the back seat frayed; the uphol-
stery of the small seat seat lacking utterly, so that
one sits on bare boards. In place of two dignifiedly
spirited fat white horses, it is drawn by two very
small mules in a semi-detached position far ahead.
And how it rattles
!
Between the station and the hotel at Nairobi is a
long, straight, wide, well-made street, nearly a mile
long, and bordered by a double row of young
eucalyptus. These latter have changed the main
street of Nairobi from the sunbaked array of galvan-
ized houses described by travellers of a half dozen
years back to a thoroughfare of great charm. The
iron houses and stores are now in a shaded back-
ground; and the attention is freed to concentrate
on the vivid colouring, the incessant movement, the
great interest of the people moving to and fro.
"7
AFRICAN CAMP FIRES
When I left Nairobi the authorities were considering
the removal of these trees because one row of them
had been planted slightly within the legal limits of
the street. What they could interfere with in a
practically horseless town I cannot imagine; but
trust this stupidity gave way to second thought.
The hack rattles and careers up the the length of
the street, scattering rickshaws and pedestrians
from before its triumphant path. To the left opens a
wide street of little booths under iron awnings, hung
with gay colour and glittering things. The street
is thronged from side to side with natives of all sorts.
It whirls past; and shortly after the hack dashes
inside a fence and draws up before the low stone-
built, wide-verandaed hotel.
ii8
XIV
A FIAT TOWN
IT HAS been, as I have said, the fashion to speak
of Nairobi as an ugly little town. This was
probably true when the first corrugated iron houses
huddled unrelieved near the railway station. It is
not true now. The lower part of town is well planted
and is always picturesque as long as its people are
astir. The white population have built in the
wooded hills some charming bungalows surrounded by
bright flowers or lost amid the trunks of great trees.
From the heights on which is Government House
one can, with a glass, watch the game herds feeding
on the plains. Two Country Clubs with the usual
games of golf, polo, tennis — especially tennis —football and cricket; a weekly hunt, with jackals
instead of foxes; a bungalow town club on the slope
of a hill; an electric light system; a race track; a rifle
range; frilly parasols and the latest fluffiest summertoilettes from London and Paris — I mention a few
of the refinements of civilization that offer to the
traveller some of the most piquant of contrasts.
119
AFRICAN CAMP FIRES
For it must not be forgotten that Nairobi, in spite
of these things — due to the direct but slender
thread of communication by railroad and ships —is actually in the middle of an African wilderness;
is a black man's town, as far as numbers go.*
The game feeds to its very outskirts, even wanders
into the streets at night.f Lions may be heard
roaring within a mile or so of town; and leopards
occasionally at night come on the verandas of the
outlying dwellings. Naked savages from the jungle
untouched by civilization in even the minutest
particular wander the streets unabashed.
It is this constantly recurring, sharply drawn
contrast that gives Nairobi its piquant charm.
As one sits on the broad hotel veranda a constantly
varied pageant passes before him. A daintily dressed,
fresh-faced Englishwoman bobs by in a smart rick-
shaw drawn by two uniformed runners; a Kikuyu,
annolnted, curled, naked, brass adorned, teeters
along, an expression of satisfaction on his face; a
horseman, well appointed, trots briskly by followed
by his loping syce; a string of skin-clad women, their
heads fantastically shaved, heavily ornamented,
lean forward under the burden of firewood for the
market; a beautiful baby in a frilled baby cab is
*Fiftcen hundred whites to twelve thousand natives, approximately,
frhis happened twice while I was in the country.
120
A FIAT TOWN
propelled by a tall, solemn, fine-looking black manin white robe and cap; the driver of a high cart tools
his animal past a creaking, clumsy, two-wheeled
wagon drawn by a pair of small humpbacked native
oxen. And so it goes, all day long, without end.
The public rickshaw boys just across the way chatter
and game and quarrel and keep a watchful eye out
for a possible patron on whom to charge vociferously
at full tilt. Two or three old-timers with white
whiskers and red faces continue to slaughter thou-
sands and thousands and thousands of lions from
the depths of their easy chairs.
The stone veranda of that hotel is a very interest-
ing place. Here gather men from all parts of East
Africa, from Uganda, and the jungles of the Upper
Congo. At one time or another all the famous
hunters drop into its canvas chairs — Cuninghame,
Allan Black, Judd, Outram, Hoey, and the others;
white traders with the natives of distant lands;
owners of farms experimenting bravely on a greater
or lesser scale in a land whose difficulties are just
beginning to be understood; great naturalists and
scientists from the governments of the earth, eager
to observe and collect in this interesting and teeming
fauna; and sportsmen" just out and full of inter-
est or just returned and modestly important. Moreabsorbing conversation can be listened to on this
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AFRICAN CAMP FIRES
veranda than in any other one place in the world.
The gathering is cosmopolitan; it is representative of
the most active of every social, political, and racial
element; it has done things ; it contemplates vital prob-
lems from the vantage ground of experience. The talk
veers from pole to pole— and returns always to lions.
Every little while a native — a raw savage —comes along and takes up a stand just outside the
railing. He stands there mute and patient for five
minutes — a half hour — until some one, any one,
happens to notice him.
*^N^jo! — come here!" commands this person.
The savage proffers a bit of paper on which is writ-
ten the name of the one with whom he has business.
^^Nenda oficie!^^ indicates the charitable person
waving his hand toward the hotel office. Then, and
not until this permission has been given by some one,
dares the savage cross the threshold to do his errand.
If the messenger happens to be a trained houseboy,
however, dressed in his uniform of khaki or his more
picturesque white robe and cap, he is privileged to
work out his own salvation. And behind the hotel
are rows and rows of other boys, each waiting
patiently the pleasure of his especial bzuana loung-
ing at ease after strenuous days. At the drawling
shout of "boy!" one of them instantly departs to
find out which particular boy is wanted.
122
A FIAT TOWN
The moment any white man walks to the edge of
the veranda a half dozen of the rickshaws across the
street career madly around the corners of the fence,
bumping, colliding, careening dangerously, to drop
beseechingly in serried confusion close around the
step. The rickshaw habit is very strong in Nairobi.
If a man wants to go three blocks down the street,
he takes a rickshaw for that stupendous journey.
There is in justification the legend that the white
man should not exert himself in the tropics. I fell
into the custom of the country until I reflected that
it would hardly be more fatal for me to walk a half
hour in the streets of Nairobi than to march six or
seven hours — as I often did — when on safari or
in the hunting field. After that I got a little exercise
to the vast scandal of the rickshaw boys. In fact,
so unusual was my performance that at first I had
fairly to clear myself a way with my kiboko. After
a few experiences they concluded me a particularly
crazy person and let me alone.
Rickshaws, however, are very efficient and very
cheap. The runners two in number, are lithe little
round-headed Kavirondos, generally, their heads
shaved to leave a skullcap, clad in scant ragged
garments, and wearing- each an anklet of little bells.
Their passion for ornament they confine to small
bright things in their hair and ears. They run easily,
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AFRICAN CAMP FIRES
with a very long stride. Even steep hills they
struggle up somehow, zigzagging from one side of
the road to the other, edging along an inch or so at a
time. In such places I should infinitely have pre-
ferred to have walked, but that would have lost mecaste everywhere. There are limits even to a crazy
man's idiosyncrasies. For that reason I never
thoroughly enjoyed rickshaws; save along the level
ways with bells jingling and feet pat-patting a rapid
tune. Certainly I did not enjoy them going down
the steep hills. The boy between the shafts in front
hits the landscape about every forty feet. I do not
really object to sudden death; but this form of it
seemed unfair to some poor hungry lion.
However the winding smooth roads among the
forested, shaded bungalows of the upper part of
town were very attractive, especially toward evening.
At that time the universal sun helmet or double
terai could be laid aside for straw hats, cloth caps, or
bare heads. People played the more violent games,
or strolled idly. At the hotel there was now a good
deal of foolish drinking; foolish, because in this
climate it is very bad for the human system, and
in these surroundings of much interest and excite-
ment the relief of its exaltation from monotony or
ennui or routine could hardly be required.
124
XV
PEOPLE
CONSIDERED as a class rather than as indiv-
iduals the dark-skinned population is easily the
more interesting. Considered as individuals, the con-
verse is true. Men like Sir Percy Girouard, Hobley,
Jackson, Lord Delamere, McMillan, Cuninghame,
Allan Black, Leslie Tarleton, Vanderweyer, the Hill
cousins. Home, and a dozen others are nowhere else
to be met in so small a community. But the whites
have developed nothing in their relations one to an-
other essentially different. The artisan and shop-
keeping class well on the flats; the Government
people and those of military connections live on the
heights one side of the little stream; the civil-service
and bigger business men among the hills on the other.
Between them all is a little jealousy, and contempt,
and condescension; just as there is jealousy, and con-
tempt, and condescension elsewhere. They are pleas-
ant people, and hospitable, and some of them very
distinguished in position or achievement; and I amglad to say I have good friends among them.
But the native is tHe joy, and the never-ceasing
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AFRICAN CAMP FIRES
delight. For his benefit is the wide, glittering,
colourful, unsanitary bazaar, with its dozens of little
open-air veranda shops, its "hotels" where he can
sit in a real chair and drink real tea, its cafes, and
the dark mysteries of its more doubtful amusements.
The bazaar is whack in the middle of town, just
where it ought not to be, and it is constantly being
quarantined, and threatened with removal. It
houses a large population mysteriously, for it is of
slight extent. Then on the borders of town are the
two great native villages — one belonging to the
Somalis; and the other hospitably accommodating
the swarms of caravan porters and their families.
For, just as in old days Mombasa and Zanzibar used
to be the points from which caravans into the interior
would set forth, now Nairobi outfits the majority
of expeditions. Probably ten thousand picked
natives of various tribes are engaged in the pro-
fession. Of course but a small proportion of this
number is ever at home at any one time; but the
village is a large one. Both these villages are built
in the native style, of plaster and thatch; have their
own headman government— under supervision —and are kept pretty well swept out and tidy. Be-
side these three main gathering places are manycamps and " shambas^^* scattered everywhere; and
*Native farmlcts, generally temporary.
126
PEOPLE
the back country counts millions of raw jungle
savages, only too glad to drift in occasionally for a
look at the metropolis.
At first the newcomer is absolutely bewildered by
the variety of these peoples; but after a little he
learns to differentiate. The Somalis are perhaps
the first recognizable, with their finely chiselled,
intelligent, delicate brown features, their slender
forms, and their strikingly picturesque costumes of
turbans, flowing robes, and embroidered sleeveless
jackets. Then he learns to distinguish the savage
from the sophisticated dweller of the town. Later
comes the identification of the numerous tribes.
The savage comes in just as he has been for,
ethnologists alone can guess, how many thousands
of years. He is too old an institution to have been
affected as yet by this tiny spot of modernity in the
middle of the wilderness. As a consequence he
startles the newcomer even more than the sight of
giraffes on the skyline.
When the shenzi — wild man — comes to town
he gathers in two or three of his companions, and
presents himself as follows: His hair has been
grown quite long, then gathered in three tight pig-
tails wound with leather, one of which hangs over
his forehead, and the otlier two over his ears. The
entire head he has then annointed with a mixture
127
AFRICAN CAMP FIRES
of castor oil and a bright red colouring earth. This
is wiped away evenly all around the face, about two
inches below the hair, to leave a broad, bandlike,
glistening effect around the entire head. The ears
are most marvellous. From early youth the lobes
have been stretched, until at last they have become
like two long elastic loops, hanging down upon the
shoulders, and capable of accommodating anything
up to and including a tomato can. When in fatigue
uniform these loops are caught up over the tops of the
ears; but on dress parade they accommodate almost
anything considered ornamental. I have seen a
row of safety pins clasped in them or a number of
curtain rings; or a marmalade jar, or the glittering
cover of a tobacco tin. The edges of the ears, all
around to the top, are pierced. Then the inser-
tion of a row of long, white, wooden skewers gives
one a peculiarly porcupinish look; or a row of little
brass danglers hints of wealth. Having thus
finished off his head, your savage clasps around his
neck various strings of beads; or collars of iron or
copper wire, polished to the point of glitter; puts on
a half dozen armlets and leglets of the same; ties on a
narrow bead belt in which is thrust a short sword;
annoints himself all over with reddened castor oil
until he glistens and shines in the sun; rubs his legs
with white clay and traces patterns therein; seizes
128
PEOPLE
his long-bladed spear, and is ready for the city.
Oh, no! I forgot— and he probably came near doing
so — his strip of 'Mericani.* This was originally
white, but constant wear over castor oil has turned
it a uniform and beautiful brown.
The purpose of this is ornament, and it is so worn.
There has been an attempt, I understand, to force
these innocent children to some sort of conventional
decency while actually in the streets of Nairobi.
It was too large an order. Some bring in clothes,
to be sure, because the white man asks it; but whyno sensible man could say. They are hung from one
shoulder, flap merrily in the breeze, and are always
quite frankly tucked up about the neck or under
the arms when the wearer happens to be in haste.
As a matter of fact, these savages are so beautifully
and smoothly formed; their red-brown or chocolate-
brown skin is so fine in texture, and their complete
unconsciousness so genuine that in an hour the new-
comer is quite accustomed to their nakedness.
These proud youths wander mincingly down the
street with an expression of the most fatuous and
good-natured satisfaction with themselves. Totheir minds they have evidently done every last
thing that human ingenuity or convention could
encompass.
*White cotten doth.
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AFRICAN CAMP FIRES
They are the dandies, the proud young aristocracy
of wealth and importance; and of course they maydiffer individually or tribally from the sample I have
offered. Also there are many other social grades.
Those who care less for dress or have less to get it
with can rub along very cheaply. The only real
essentials are (a) something for the ear— a tomato
can will do; (b) a trifle for clothing— and for that
a scrap of gunny sacking will be quite enough.
The women to be seen in the streets of Nairobi
are mostly of the Kikuyu tribe. They are pretty
much of a pattern. Their heads are shaven, either
completely or to leave only ornamental tufts; and
are generally bound with a fine wire fillet so tightly
that the strands seem to sink into the flesh. Apiece of cotton cloth, dyed dark umber red, is belted
around the waist, and sometimes, but not always,
another is thrown about the shoulders. They go in
for more hardware than do the men. The entire
arms and the calves of the legs are encased in a sort
of armour made of quarter-inch wire wound closely,
and a collar of the same material stands out like a
ruff eight or ten inches around the neck. This is
wound on for keeps; and must be worn day and night
and all the time, a cumbersome and tremendously
heavy burden. A dozen large loops of coloured
beads strung through the ears, and various strings
130
PEOPLE
and necklaces of beads, cowrie shells and the like,
finish them out in all their gorgeousness. They
would sink like plummets. Their job in life, beside
lugging all this stuff about, is to carry in firewood
and forage. At any time of the day long files of
them can be seen bending forward under their bur-
dens. These they carry on their backs by means
of a strap across the tops of their heads; after the
fashion of the Canadian tump line.
The next cut above the shenzi, or wild man, is the
individual who has been on safari as carrier, or has
otherwise been much employed around white men.
From this experience he has acquired articles of
apparel and points of view. He is given to ragged
khaki, or cast-off garments of all sorts; but never to
shoes. This hint of the conventional only serves to
accent the little self-satisfied excursions he makes
into barbarism. The shirt is always worn outside,
the ear ornaments are as varied as ever, the head is
shaved in strange patterns, a tiny tight tuft on the
crown is useful as fastening for feathers or little
streamers or anything else that will wave or glitter.
One of these individuals wore a red label he had —with patience and difficulty— removed from one of
our trunks. He had pasted it on his forehead; and
it read "Baggage Room, Not Wanted." These
people are, after all, but modified shenzis. The
131
AFRICAN CAMP FIRES
modification is nearly always in the direction of the
comic.
Now we step up to a class that would resent being
called shenzis as it would resent an insult. This is
the personal servant class. The members are of all
tribes, with possibly a slight preponderance of
Swahilis and Somalis. They are a very clean, well-
groomed, self-respecting class, with a great deal of
dignity and a great deal of pride in their bwanas.
Also they are exceedingly likely to degenerate unless
ruled with a firm hand and a wise head. Very rarely
are they dishonest as respects the possessions of
their own masters. They understand their work
perfectly, and the best of them get the equivalent
of from eight to ten dollars a month. Every white
individual has one or more of them; even the tiny
children with their ridiculous little sun helmets are
followed everywhere by a tall, solemn, white-robed
black. Their powers of divination approach the
uncanny. About the time you begin to think of
wanting something, and are making a first helpless
survey of a boyless landscape, your own servant
suddenly, mysteriously, and unobtrusively appears
from nowhere. Where he keeps himself, where he
feeds himself, where he sleeps you do not know.
These beautifully clean, trim, dignified people are
always a pleasant accent in the varied picture.
132
PEOPLE
The Somalis are a clan by themselves. A few of
them condescend to domestic service, but the most
prefer the free life of traders, horse dealers, gun-
bearerSj camel drivers, labour go-betweens, and
similar guerrilla occupations. They are handsome,
dashing, proud, treacherous, courageous, likeable,
untrustworthy. They career around on their high,
short-stirruped saddles; they saunter indolently in
small groups; they hang about the hotel hoping
for a dicker of some kind. There is nothing of the
savage about them, but much of the true barbarian,
with the barbarian's pride, treachery, and love of
colour.
133
XVI
RECRUITING
TO THE traveller Nairobi is most interesting as
the point from which expeditions start and to
which they return. Doubtless an extended stay in
the country would show him that problems of ad-
ministration and possibilities of development could
be even more absorbing; but such things are very
sketchy to him at first.
As a usual thing, when he wants porters he picks
them out from the throng hanging around the big
outfitters' establishments. Each man is then given
a blanket— cotton, but of a most satisfying red —a tin water bottle, a short stout cord, and a navy
blue jersey. After that ceremony he is yours.
But on the occasion of one three months' journey
into comparatively unknown country we ran up
against difficulties. Some two weeks before our
contemplated start two or three cases of bubonic
plague had been discovered in the bazaar, and as a
consequence Nairobi was quarantined. This meant
that a rope had been stretched around the infected
134
RECRUITING
area, that the shops had been closed, and that no
native could — officially— leave Nairobi. The lat-
ter provision affected us; for under it we should be
unable to get our bearers out.
As a matter of fact, the whole performance —unofficially— was a farce. Natives conversed affa-
bly at arm's length across the ropes; hundreds
sneaked in and out of town at will; and from the rear
of the infected area I personally saw beds, chests,
household goods, blankets, and clothes, passed to
friends outside the ropes. When this latter condition
was reported, in my presence, to the medical officers,
they replied that this was a matter for police
cognizance! But the brave outward show of ropes,
disinfectants, gorgeous sentries — in front — and
official inspection went solemnly on. Great, even
in Africa, is the god of red tape.
Our only possible plan, in the circumstances, was
to recruit the men outside the town to camp them
somewhere, march them across country to a waystation and there embark them. Our goods and
safari stores we could then ship out to them by train.
Accordingly we rode on bicycles out to the Swahili
village.
This is, as I have said, composed of large "bee-
hive" houses thatched conically with straw. The
roofs extend to form verandas beneath which sit
135
AFRICAN CAMP FIRES
indolent damsels, their hair divided in innumerable
tiny parts running fore and aft like the stripes on a
watermelon; their figured 'Mericani garments draped
gracefully. As befitted the women of plutocrats,
they wore much jewellery, some of it set in their
noses. Most of them did all of nothing, but some
sat half buried in narrow strips of bright-coloured
tissue paper. These they were pasting together like
rolls of tape, the coloured edges of the paper forming
concentric patterns on the resultant disks — an
infinite labour. The disks, when completed, were
for insertion in the lobes of the ears.
When we arrived the irregular "streets" of the
village were nearly empty, save for a few elegant
youths, in long kanzuas, or robes of cinnamon colour
and spotless white, on their heads fezzes or turbans,
in their hands slender rattan canes. They were
very busy talking to each other, and of course did not
notice the idle beauties beneath the verandas.
Hardly had we appeared, however, when mysteri-
ously came forth the headman — a bearded,
solemn. Arablike person with a phenomenally ugly
face but a most pleasing smile. We told him we
wanted porters. He clapped his hands. To the four
young men who answered this summons he gave
a command. From sleepy indolence they sprang
into life. To the four cardinal points of the compass
136
RECRUITING
they darted away, running up and down the side
streets, beating on the doors, screaming at the tops
of their lungs the word *'C<2zf "* over and over again.
The village hummed like a wasp's nest. Menpoured from the huts in swarms. The streets were
filled; the idle sauntering youths were swamped and
sunk from view. Clamour and shouting arose
where before had been a droning silence. The mobbeat up to where we stood, surrounding us, shouting
at us. From somewhere some one brought an old
table and two decrepit chairs, battered and rickety
in themselves, but symbols of great authority in a
community where nobody habitually used either.
Two naked boys proudly took charge of our bicycles.
We seated ourselves.
"Fall in!" we yelled.
About half the crowd fell into rough lines. The
rest drew slightly one side. Nobody stopped talking
for a single instant.
We arose and tackled our job. The first part of
it was to segregate the applicants into their different
tribes
^^Monumzvezi hapa!^^ we yelled; and the commandwas repeated and repeated again by the headman,
by his four personal assistants, by a half dozen lesser
headmen. Slowly the Monumwezi drew aside.
*Work.
137
AFRICAN CAMP FIRES
We impressed on them emphatically they must stay
put, and went after, in turn, the Baganda, the
Wakamba, the Swahilis, the Kavirondo, the Kikuyu.
When we had them grouped, we went over them
individually. We punched their chests, we ran over
all their joints, we examined their feet, we felt their
muscles. Our victims stood rigidly at inspection,
but their numerous friends surrounded us closely,
urging the claims of the man to our notice. It was
rather confusing, but we tried to go at it as though
we were alone in a wilderness. If the man passed
muster we motioned him to a rapidly growing group.
When we had finished, we had about sixty mensegregated. Then we went over this picked lot
again. This time we tried not only to get good
specimens, but to mix our tribes. At last our count
of twenty-nine was made up, and we took a deep
breath. But to us came one of them complaining
that he was a Monumwezi, and that we had picked
only three Monumwezi, and We cut him short.
His contention was quite correct. A porter tent
holds five, and it does not do to mix tribes. Re-
organization! Cut out two extra Kavirondos, and
include two more Monumwezi. '^BassI finished!"
Now go get your effects. We start immediately.
As quickly as it had filled, the street cleared.
The rejected dove back into their huts, the newly
138
RECRUITING
enlisted carriers went to collect their baggage.
Only remained the headman and his fierce-faced
assistants, and the splendid youths idling up and
down — none of them had volunteered, you may be
sure— and the damsels of leisure beneath the
porticos. Also one engaging and peculiar figure
hovering near.
This individual had been particularly busy during
our recruiting. He had hustled the men into line,
he had advised us for or against different candidates,
he had loudly sung my praises as a man to work for,
although, of course, he knew nothing about me.
Now he approached, saluted, smiled. He was a tall,
slenderly built person, with phenomenally long, thin
legs, slightly rounded shoulders, a forward thrust,
keen face, and remarkably long, slim hands. With
these he gesticulated much, in a right-angled fashion,
after the manner of Egyptian hieroglyphical figures.
He was in no manner shenzi. He wore a fez, a neat
khaki coat and shorts, blue puttees and boots.
Also a belt with leather pockets, a bunch of keys, a
wrist watch and a seal ring. His air was of great
elegance and social ease. We took him with us as
Cuninghame's gunbearer. He proved staunch, a good
tracker, an excellent hunter, and a most engaging
individual. His name was Kongoni, and he was a
Wakamba.
139
AFRICAN CAMP FIRES
But now we were confronted with a new problem:
that of getting our twenty-nine chosen ones to-
gether again. They had totally disappeared. In all
directions we had emissaries beating up the laggards.
As each man reappeared carrying his little bundle,
we lined him up with his companions. Then when
we turned our backs we lost him again; he had
thought of another friend with whom to exchange
farewells. At the long last however, we got them
all collected. The procession started, the naked
boys proudly wheeling our bikes alongside. Wesaw them fairly clear of everything, then turned
them over to Kongoni, while we returned to Nairobi
to see after our effects.
140
XVII
AN OSTRICH FARM AT MACHAKOS
THIS has to do with a Hon hunt on the Kapiti
Plains. On the veranda at Nairobi I had some
time previous met Clifford Hill, who had Invited meto visit him at the ostrich farm he and his cousin
were running in the mountains near Machakos.
Some time later, a visit to Juja Farm gave me the
opportunity. Juja is only a day's ride from the
Hills'. So an Africander, originally from the south,
Captain Duirs, and I sent across a few carriers with
our personal effects, and ourselves rode over on horse-
back.
Juja is on the Athi Plains. Between the Athi and
Kapiti Plains runs a range of low mountains around
the end of which one can make his way as around
a promontory. The Hills' ostrich farm was on
highlands in the bay the other side of the promontory.
It was toward the close of the rainy season, and
the rivers were up. We had to swim our horses
within a half mile of Juja, and got pretty wet.
Shortly after crossing the Athi, however, five miles
143
AFRICAN CAMP FIRES
on, we emerged on the dry, drained slopes from the
hills. Here the grass was long, and the ticks
plenty. Our horses' legs and chests were black with
them; and when we dismounted for lunch we our-
selves were almost immediately alive with the pests.
In this very high grass the game was rather scarce,
but after we had climbed by insensible grades to the
shorter growth we began to see many hartebeeste,
zebra, and gazelles, and a few of the wildebeeste, or
brindled gnus. Travel over these great plains, and
through these leisurely low hills is a good deal like
coastwise sailing; the same apparently unattainable
landmarks which, nevertheless, are at last passed
and left astern by the same sure but insensible
progress. Thus we drew up on apparently contin-
uous hills, found wide gaps between them, crossed
them, and turned to the left along the other side of
the promontory. About five o'clock we came to the
Hills'.
The ostrich farm is situated on the very top of a
conical rise that sticks up like an island close inshore
to the semicircle of mountains in which end the vast
plains of Kapiti. Thus the Hills have at their backs
and sides these solid ramparts and face westward
the immensities of space. For Kapiti goes on over
the edge of the world to unknown, unguessed regions,
rolling and troubled like a sea. And from that
144
AN OSTRICH FARM AT MACHAKOS
unknown, on very still days, the snowy peak of
Kilimanjaro peers out, sketched as faintly against
the sky as a soap bubble wafted upward and about
to disappear. Here and there on the plains kopjes
stand like islands, their stone tops looking as though
thrust (from beneath) through the smooth prairie
surface. To them meandered long, narrow ravines
full of low brush, like thin, wavering streaks of gray.
On these kopjes — each of which had its name—and in these ravines we were to hunt the lions.
We began the ascent of the cone on which dwelt
our hosts. It was one of those hills that seem in no
part steep, and yet which finally succeed in raising
one to a considerable height. We passed two ostrich
herds in charge of savages, rode through a scattered
native village, and so came to the farm itself,
situated on the very summit.
The house consisted of three large circular huts,
thatched neatly with papyrus stalks, and with
conical roofs. These were arranged as a triangle,
just touching each other; and the space between
had been roofed over to form a veranda. We were
ushered in to one of these circular rooms. It was
spacious and contained two beds, two chairs, a
dresser, and a table. Its earth floor was completely
covered by the skins of animals. In the correspond-
ing room, opposite, slept our hosts; while the third
I4S
AFRICAN CAMP FIRES
hut was the living and dining-room. A long table,
rawhide bottomed chairs, a large sideboard, book-
cases, a long easy settee with pillows, gun racks,
photographs in and out of frames, a table with writing
materials, and books and magazines everywhere —not to speak of again the skins of many animals
completely covering the floor. Out behind, in small
separate buildings functioned the cook, and dwelt
the stores, the bathtub, and other such necessary
affairs.
As soon as we had consumed the usual grateful
lime juice and sparklets, we followed our hosts into
open air to look around.
On this high, airy hilltop the Hills some day are
going to build them a real house. In anticipation
they have laid out grounds and have planted manythings. In examining these my California training
stood by me. Out there, as here, one so often
examines his own and his neighbours' gardens not
for what they are but for what they shall become.
His imagination can exalt this tiny seedling to the
impressiveness of spreading noontime shade; can
magnify yonder apparent duplicate to the full
symmetry of a shrub; can ruthlessly diminish the
present importance of certain grand and lofty
growths to their true status of flower or annual. So
from a dead uniformity of size he casts forward in
146
AN OSTRICH FARM AT MACHAKOS
the years to a pleasing variation of shade, of jungle,
of open glade, of flowered vista; and he goes away
full of expert admiration for "X.'s bully garden."
With this solid training beneath me I was able on
this occasion to please immensely.
From the house site we descended the slope to
where the ostriches and the cattle and the people
were in the last sunlight swarming upward from the
plains pastures below. These people were to the
most extent Wakamba, quite savage, but attracted
here by the justness and fair dealing of the Hills.
Some of them farmed on shares with the Hills, the
white men furnishing the land and seed, and the
black men the labour; some of them laboured on
wage; some few herded cattle or ostriches; some
were hunters, and took the field only when, as now,
serious business was afoot. They had their complete
villages, with priests, witch doctors, and all; and they
seemed both contented and fond of the two white
men.
As we walked, about we learned much of the
ostrich business; and in the course of our ten days'
visit we came to a better realization of how muchthere is to think of in what appears basically so
simple a proposition.
In the nesting time, then, the Hills went out over
the open country, sometimes for days at a time,
147
AFRICAN CAMP FIRES
armed with long high-power telescopes. With
these fearsome and unwieldy instruments they
surveyed the country inch by inch from the advan-
tage of a kopje. When thus they discovered a nest,
they descended and appropriated the eggs. Thelatter, hatched at home in an incubator, formed the
nucleus of a flock.
Pass the raising of ostrich chicks to full size
through the difficulties of disease, wild beasts, and
sheer cussedness. Of the resultant thirty birds or so
of the season's catch but two or three will even
promise good production. These must be bred in
captivity with other likely specimens. Thus after
several years the industrious ostrich farmer maybecome possessed of a few really prime birds. Toaccumulate a proper flock of such in a new country is
a matter of a decade or so. Extra prime birds are
as well known, and as much in demand for breeding
as any blooded horse in a racing country. Your
true ostrich enthusiast, like the Hills, possesses
trunks full of feathers, not good commercially, but
intensely interesting for comparison and for the
purposes of prophecy. While I stayed with them
came a rumour of a very fine plucking a distant
neighbour had just finished from a likely two-year-
old. The Hills were manifestly uneasy until one
of them had ridden the long distance to compare
148
AN OSTRICH FARM AT MACHAKOS
this newcomer's product with that of their own two-
year-olds. And I shall never forget the reluctantly
admiring shake of the head with which he acknowl-
ledged that it was indeed a "very fine feather!"
But getting the birds is by no means all of ostrich
farming, as many eager experimenters have dis-
covered to their cost. The birds must have a
certain sort of pasture land; and their paddocks
must be built on an earth that will not soil or break
the edges of the new plumes.
And then there is the constant danger of wild
beasts. When a man has spent years in gathering
suitable flocks, he cannot be blamed for wild anger
when, as happened while I was in the country, lions
kill sixty or seventy birds in a night. The ostrich
seems to tempt lions greatly. The beasts will
make their way through and over the most compli-
cated defences. Any ostrich farmer's life is a
constant warfare against them. Thus the Hills
had slain sixty-eight lions in and near their farm—a tremendous record. Still the beasts continued to
come in. My hosts showed me with considerable
pride their arrangements finally evolved for night
protection.
The ostriches were confined in a series of heavy
corrals segregating the birds of different ages.
Around the outside of this group of enclosures ran
149
AFRICAN CAMP FIRES
a wide ring corral in which were confined the nu-
merous cattle; and as an outer wall to this were built
the huts of the Wakamba village. Thus to pene-
trate to the ostriches the enterprising lion would
have to pass both the people, the cattle, and the
strong thorn and log structures that contained them.
This subject brings me to another set of acquaint-
ances we had already made — the dogs.
These consisted of an Airedale named Ruby; two
setters called Wayward and Girlie; a heavy black
mongrel, Nero; ditto brindle, Ben; and a smaller
black and white ditto. Ranger. They were very
nice, friendly doggy dogs, but they did not look like
lion hunters. Nevertheless, Hill assured us that
they were of great use in the sport, and promised us
that on the following day we should see just how.
ISO
XVIII
THE FIRST LIONESS
AT AN early hour we loaded our bedding, food,
tents, and camp outfit on a two-wheeled wagon
drawn by four of the humpbacked native oxen,
and sent it away across the plains with instructions
to make camp on a certain kopje. Clifford Hill
and myself, accompanied by our gunbearers and
syces, then rode leisurely down the length of a
.shallow brushy canon for a mile or so. There we
dismounted and sat down to await the arrival of
the others. These— including Harold Hill, Captain
Duirs, five or six Wakamba spearmen, our owncarriers, and the dogs — came along more slowly,
beating the bottoms on the off chance of game.
The sun was just warming, and the bees and
insects were filling the air with their sleepy droning
sounds. The sidehill opposite showed many little
outcrops of rocks so like the hills of our own Western
States that it was somewhat difficult to realize that
we were in Africa. For some reason the delay was
long. Then suddenly all four of us simultaneously
AFRICAN CAMP FIRES
saw the same thing. A quarter mile away and
on the sidehill opposite a magnificent lioness came
loping easily along through the grass. She looked
very small at that distance, like a toy, and quite
unhurried. Indeed, every few moments she paused
to look back in an annoyed fashion over her shoulder
in the direction of the row behind her.
There was nothing to do but sit tight and wait.
The lioness was headed exactly to cross our front;
nor, except at one point, was she at all likely to
deviate. A shallow tributary ravine ran into our
own about two hundred yards away. She might
possibly sneak down the bed of this. It seemed
unlikely. The going was bad, and in addition
she had no idea as yet that she had been sighted.
Indeed, the chances were that she would come to a
definite stop before making the crossing, in which
case we would get a shot.
"And if she does go down the donga," whispered
Hill, "the dogs will locate her."
Sitting still while things approach is always excit-
ing. This is true of ducks; but when you multiply
ducks by lions it is still more true. We all crouched
very low in the grass. She leaped without hesitation
into the ravine— and did not emerge.
This was a disappointment. We concluded she
must have entered the stream bottom, and were
152
THE FIRST LIONESS
just about to move when Memba Sasa snapped his
fingers. His sharp eyes had discovered her sneaking
along, belly to the ground, like the cat she was.
The explanation of this change in her gait was
simple. Our companions had rounded the corner
of the hill and were galloping in plain view a half
mile away. The lioness had caught sight of them.
She was gliding by, dimly visible, through thick
brush seventy yards distant. Now I could make
out a tawny patch that faded while I looked; now
I could merely guess at a melting shadow.
"Stir her up," whispered Hill. "Never mind
whether you hit. She'll sneak away."
At the shot she leaped fully out into the open with
a snarl. Promptly I planted a Springfield bullet
in her ribs. She answered slightly to the hit but did
not shift position. Her head up, her tail thrashing
from side to side, her ears laid back, she stood there
looking the landscape over carefully point by point.
She was searching for us, but as yet could not locate
us. It was really magnificent.
I attempted to throw in another cartridge, but
because of my desire to work the bolt quietly, in
order not to attract the lioness's attention, I did not
pull it back far enough, and the cartridge jammedin the magazine. As evidence of Memba Sasa's
coolness and efficiency, it is to be written that he
153
AFRICAN CAMP FIRES
became aware of this as soon as I did. He thrust
the .405 across my right side, at the same time with-
drawing the Springfield on the left. The motion was
slight, but the lioness caught it. Immediately she
dropped her head and charged.
For the next few moments, naturally, I was pretty
intent on lions. Nevertheless a corner of my mind
was aware of Memba Sasa methodically picking
away at the jammed rifle, and paying no attention
whatever to the beast. Also I heard Hill making
picturesque remarks about his gunbearer, who had
bolted with his second gun.
The lioness charged very fast, but very straight,
about in the tearing, scrambling manner of a terrier
after a thrown ball. I got in the first shot as she
came, the bullet ranging back from the shoulder and
Hill followed it immediately with another from his
.404 Jeff'rey. She growled at the bullets, and checked
very slightly as they hit, but gave no other sign.
Then our second shots hit her both together. The
mere shock stopped] her short, but recovering
instantly, she sprang forward again. Hill's third
shot came next, and perceptibly slowed and staggered
but did not stop her. By this time she was quite
close, and my own third shot reached her brain.
She rolled over dead.
Decidedly she was a game beast, and stood more
154
THE FIRST LIONESS
hammering than any other lion I killed or saw
killed. Before the final shot in the brain she had
taken one light bullet and five heavy ones with hardly
a wince. Memba Sasa uttered a loud grunt of
satisfaction when she went down for keeps. He had
the Springfield reloaded and cocked, right at myelbow.
Hill's gunboy hovered uncertainly some distance
in the rear. The sight of the charging lioness had
been too much for him and he had bolted. He was
not actually up a tree; but he stood very tiear one.
He lost the gun and acquired a swift kick.
Our friends and the men now came up. The dogs
made a great row over the dead lioness. She was
measured and skinned to accompaniment of the
usual low-hummed chantings. We had with us a
small boy of ten or twelve years whose job it was
to take care of the dogs and to remove ticks. In
fact he was knqwn as the Tick Toto. As this was
his first expedition afield, his father took especial
pains to smear him with fat from the lioness. This
was to make him brave. I am bound to confess the
effect was not immediate.
155
XIX
THE DOGS
ISOON discovered that we were hunting lions
with the assistance of the dogs; not that the
dogs were hunting lions. They had not lost any
lions, not they! My mental pictures of the snarl-
ing, magnificent king of beasts surrounded by an
equally snarling, magnificent pack vanished into
thin air.
Our system was to cover as much likely country
as we could, and to let the dogs have a good time.
As I have before indicated, they were thoroughly
doggy dogs, and interested in everything— except
able-bodied lions. None of the stick-at-your-heels
in their composition. They ranged far and wide
through all sorts of cover seeking what they could
find in the way of porcupines, mongoose, hares,
birds, cats and whatever else should interest any
healthy-minded dog. If there happened to be any
lions in the path of these rangings, the dogs retired
rapidly, discreetly, and with every symptom of
horrified disgust. If a dog came sailing out of a
iS6
THE DOGS
thicket, kl-yi-Ing agitatedly, and took up his position,
tail between his legs, behind his master, we knew
there was probably a lion about. Thus we hunted
lions with dogs.
But in order to be fair to these most excellent
canines, it should be recorded that they recovered
a certain proportion of their nerve after a rifle had
been fired. They then returned warily to the —not attack— reconnaissance. This trait showed
touching faith, and was a real compliment to the
marksmanship of their masters. Some day it will
be misplaced. A little cautious scouting on their
part located the wounded beast; whereupon, at a
respectful distance, they lifted their voices. As
a large element of danger in case of a wounded lion
is the uncertainty as to his whereabout, it will be
seen that the dogs were very valuable indeed. They
seemed to know exactly how badly hit an animal
might happen to be, and to gauge their distance ac-
cordingly, until at last, when the quarry was ham-
mered to harmlessness, they closed in and began
to worry the nearly lifeless carcass. By this policy
the dogs had a lot of fun hunting on their own
hook, preserved their lives from otherwise inevitable
extinction, and were of great assistance in saving
their masters' skins.
One member of the pack, perhaps two, were,
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AFRICAN CAMP FIRES
however, rather pathetic figures. I refer to the
setters, Wayward and Girlie. Ranger, Ruby,
Ben, and Nero scampered merrily over the land-
scape after anything that stirred, from field mice
to serval cats. All was game to their catholic tastes;
and you may be sure, in a country like Africa,
they had few dull moments. But Wayward and
Girlie had been brought up in a more exclusive
manner. Their instincts had been supplemented
by a rigorous early training. Game to them meant
birds, and birds only. Furthermore, they had been
solemnly assured by human persons in whom they
had the utmost confidence that but one sequence
of events was permissible or even thinkable in the
presence of game. The Dog at first intimation by
scent must convey the fact to the Man, must proceed
cautiously to locate exactly, must then stiffen to
a point which he must hold staunchly, no matter
how distracting events might turn out, of how long
an interval might elapse. The Man must next
walk up the birds; shoot at them, perhaps kill one,
then command the Dog to retrieve. The Dog must
on no account move from his tracks until such
command is given. All the affair is perfectly simple;
but quite inflexible. Any variation in this procedure
fills the honest bird dog's mind with the same horror
and dismay experienced by a well-brought-up young
158
THE DOGS
man who discovers that he has on shoes of the wrong
colour. It isn't done, you know.
Consider then Wayward and Girlie in a country
full of game birds. They quarter wide to right,
then cross to left, their heads high, their feather
tails waving in the most approved good form. Whenthey find birds they draw to their points in the
best possible style; stiffen out— and wait. It is
now, according to all good ethics, up to the Man.
And the Man and his companions go right on by,
paying absolutely no attention either to the situation
or our own magnificent piece of work! What is one
to conclude.^ That our early training is all wrong?
that we are at one experience to turn apostate to the
settled and only correct order of things ? Or that
our masters are no gentlemen. That is a pretty
difficult thing, an impossible thing, to conclude of
one's own master. But it leaves one in a fearful
state mentally; and one has no idea of what to do!
Wayward was a perfect gentleman, and he played
the game according to the very best traditions.
He conscientiously pointed every bird he could get
his nose on. Furthermore he was absolutely staunch
and held his point even when the four non-bird dogs
rushed in ahead of him. The expression of puzzle-
ment, grief, shock and sadness in his eyes deepened
as bird after bird soared awav without a shot.
1 59
AFRICAN CAMP FIRES
Girlie was more liberal-minded. She pointed her
birds, and backed Wayward at need, but when the
other dogs rushed her point, she rushed too. Andwhen we swept on by her, leaving her on point;
instead of holding it quixotically, as did Wayward,
until the bird sneaked away; she merely waited
until we were out of sight, and then tried to catch
it. Finally Captain Duirs remarked that lions or no
lions he was not going to stand it any longer. Hegot out a shotgun and all one afternoon killed grouse
over Wayward, to the latter's intense relief. His
ideals had been rehabilitated.
i6o
XX
BONDONI
WE followed many depressions, in which might
be lions, until about three o'clock in the
afternoon. Then we climbed the gently rising long
slope that culminated, far above the plains, in the
peak of a hill called Bondoni. From a distance
it was steep and well defined; but, like most of these
larger kopjes, its actual ascent, up to the last few
hundred feet, was so gradual that we hardly knew
we were climbing. At the summit we found our
men and the bullock cart. There also stood an
oblong blockhouse of stone, the walls two feet thick
and ten feet high. It was entered only by a blind
angle passage; and was strong enough apparently
to resist small artillery. This structure was simply
an ostrich corral! and bitter experience had shown
the massive construction absolutely necessary as
adequate protection, in this exposed and solitary
spot, against the lions.
We had some tea and bread and butter, and then
Clifford Hill and I set out afoot after meat. Only
i6i
AFRICAN CAMP FIRES
occasionally do these hard-working settlers get a
chance for hunting on the plains so near them;
and now they had promised their native retainers
that they would send back a treat of game. Tocarry this promised luxury a number of the villagers
had accompanied the bullock wagon. As we were
to move on next day, it became very desirable to
get the meat promptly while still near home.
We slipped over to the other side, and by good
fortune caught sight of a dozen zebras feeding in
scrub halfway down the hill. They were out of
their proper environment up there, but we were
glad of it. Down on our tummies then we dropped;
and crawled slowly forward through the high, sweet
grasses. We were in the late afternoon shadow of
the hill, and we enjoyed the mild skill of the stalk.
Taking advantage of every cover, slipping over into
little ravines, lying very flat when one of the beasts
raised his head, we edged nearer and nearer. Wewere already well within range, but it amused us
to play the game. Finally, at one hundred yards,
we came to a halt. The zebra showed very hand-
some at that range, for even their smaller leg stripes
were all plainly visible. Of course at that distance
there could be small chance of missing, and we
downed one each. The Wakamba, who had been
watching eagerly, swarmed down shouting.
162
BONDONI
We dined just at sunset under a small tree at
the very top of the peak. Long bars of light shot
through the western clouds; the plain turned from
solid earth to a mysterious sea of shifting twilights;
the buttes stood up wrapped in veils of soft desert
colours; Kilimanjaro hung suspended like a rose-
coloured bubble above the abyss beyond the world.
163
XXI
RIDING THE PLAINS
FROM the mere point of view of lions, lion
hunting was very slow work indeed. It meant
riding all of long days, from dawn until dark,
investigating miles of country that looked all alike
and in which we seemed to get nowhere. One by
one the long billows of plain fell behind, until our
camphill had turned blue behind us, and we seemed
to be out in illimitable space, with no possibility,
in an ordinary lifetime, of ever getting in touch
with anything again. What from above had looked
as level as a floor now turned into a tremendously
wide and placid ground swell. As a consequence
we were always going imperceptibly up and up and
up to a long-delayed skyline, or tipping as gently
down the other side of the wave. From crest to
crest of these long billows measured two or three
miles. The vertical distance in elevation from
trough to top was perhaps not over fifty to one-
hundred feet.
Slowly we rode along the shallow grass and brush
164
RIDING THE PLAINS
ravines in the troughs of the low billows, while the
dogs worked eagerly in and out of cover, and our
handful of savages cast stones and shouted. Oc-
casionally we divided forces and beat the length of
a hill, two of us lying in wait at one end for the
possible lion, the rest sweeping the sides and sum-
mits. Many animals came bounding along, but
no lions. Then Harold Hill, unlimbering a huge,
many-jointed telescope, would lie flat on his back
and sight the fearsome instrument over his crossed
feet, in a general bird's eye view of the plains for
miles around. While he was at it we were privileged
to look about us less under the burden of respon-
sibility. We could make out the game as little,
light-coloured dots and speckles, thousands upon
thousands of them, thicker than cattle ever grazed
on the open range, and as far as the eye could make
them out, and then a glance through our glasses
picked them up again for mile after mile. Even
the six-power could go no farther. The imagina-
tion was left the vision of more leagues of wild
animals even to the half-guessed azure mountains
— and beyond. I had seen abundant game elsewhere
in Africa, but nothing like the multitudes inhabiting
the Kapiti Plains at that time of year. In other
seasons this locality is comparatively deserted.
The 'scope revealing nothing in our line, we rode
1 6s
AFRICAN CAMP FIRES
again to the lower levels, and again took up our
slow, painstaking search.
But although three days went by in this manner
without our getting a glimpse of lions, they were
far from being days lost. Minor adventure filled
our hours. What elsewhere would be major interest
of strange and interesting experience met us at
every turn. The game, while abundant, was very
shy. This had nothing to do with distrust of hunters
;
but merely to the fact that it was the season of
green grass. We liked to come upon animals un-
expectedly, to see them buck-jump and cavort.
Otherwise we rode in a moving space cleared of
animals, the beasts unobtrusively giving way before
us, and as unobtrusively closing in behind. The
sun flashed on the spears of savages travelling
single file across the distance. Often we stopped
short to gaze upon a wild and tumbled horizon of
storm that Gustave Dore might have done.
The dogs were always joyously routing out some
beast, desirable from their point of view, and chasing
it hopelessly about, to our great amusement. Once
they ran into a giant porcupine — about the size
a setter would be with shorter legs — which did
not understand running away. They came upon
it in a dense thicket, and the ensuing row was unholy.
They managed to kill the porcupine among them,
i66
RIDING THE PLAINS
after which we plucked barbed quills from some
very grieved dogs. The quills were large enough
to make excellent penholders. The dogs also swore
by all canine gods that they wouldn't do a thing to
a hyena, if only they could get hold of one. They
never got hold of one, for the hyena is a coward.
His skull and teeth, however, are as big and powerful
as those of a lioness; so I do not know which was
luckiest in his avoidance of trouble— he or the dogs.
Nor from the shooting standpoint did we lack
for sport. We had to shoot for our men; and we
occasionally needed meat ourselves. It was always
interesting, when such necessities arose, to stalk
the shy bucks and do long-range rifle practice.
This shooting, however, was done only after the
day's hunt was over. We had no desire to spoil
our lion chances.
The long circle toward our evening camp always
proved very long indeed. We arrived at dusk to
find supper ready for us. As we were old cam-
paigners we ate this off chop boxes as tables, and sat
on the ground. It was served by a Wakambayouth we had nicknamed Herbert Spencer, on ac-
count of his gigantic intellect. Herbert meant well,
but about all he succeeded in accomplishing was a
pathetically wrinkled brow of care and scared eyes.
He had never been harshly treated by any of us,
167
AFRICAN CAMP FIRES
but he acted as though always ready to bolt. If
there were twenty easy right methods of doing a
thing and one difficult wrong method, Herbert would
get the latter every time. No amount of experience
could teach him the logic of our simplest ways. Oneevening he brought a tumbler of mixed water and
condensed milk. Harold Hill glanced into the
receptacle.
"Stir it," he commanded briefly.
Herbert Spencer obeyed. We talked about some-
thing else. Some five or ten minutes later one
of us noticed that Herbert was still stirring, and
called attention to the fact. When the latter saw
our eyes were on him he speeded up until the spoon
fairly rattled in the tumbler. Then when he thought
our attention had relaxed again, he relaxed also his
efforts. The spoon travelled slower and slower in
its dreamy circle. We amused ourselves for some
time thus. Then we became so weak from laughter
that we fell backward off our seats and some one
gasped a command that Herbert cease.
I am afraid, after a little, that we rather enjoyed
mildly tormenting poor Herbert Spencer. He tried
so hard, and looked so scared, and was so unbeliev-
ably stupid! Almost always he had to pick his
orders word by word from a vast amount of high-
flown, unnecessary English.
1 68
RIDING THE PLAINS
"O Herbert Spencer," the command would run,
"if you would condescend to bend your mighty
intellect to the lowly subject of maji, and will snatch
time from your profound cerebrations to assure its
being moto sanUy I would esteem it infinite conde-
scension on your part to lets pesi pesi.^'
And Herbert, listening to all this with a painful,
strained intensity, would catch the six key words,
and would falter forth a trembling ^'N^dio hwana.''^
Somewhere down deep within Herbert Spencer's
make up, however, was a moral sense of duty. Whenwe finally broke camp for keeps, on the great hill of
Lucania, Herbert Spencer, relieved from his job,
bolted like a shot. As far as we could see him he
was running at top speed. If he had not possessed
a sense of duty, he would have done this long ago.
We camped always well up on some of the numer-
ous hills; for, although anxious enough to find lions
in the daytime, we had no use for them at all by
night. This usually meant that the boys had to
carry water some distance for the benefit of the dogs.
We kept a canvas bathtub full from which they
could drink at any time. This necessary privilege
after a hard day nearly drove Captain Duirs crazy.
It happened like this:
We were riding along the slope of a sidehill, when
in the ravine, a half mile away and below us, we
169
AFRICAN CAMP FIRES
saw something dark pop up in sight and then down
again. We shouted to some of the savage Wakambato go investigate. They closed in from all sides,
their long spears poised to strike. At the last mo-
ment out darted, not an animal, but a badly fright-
ened old man armed with bow and arrow. Hedashed out under the upraised spears, clasped one
of the men around the knees, and implored protec-
tion. Our savages, their spears ready, glanced over
their shoulders for instruction. They would have
liked nothing better than to have spitted the poor
old fellow.
We galloped down as fast as possible to the rescue.
With reluctance our spearmen drew back, releasing
their prize. We picked up his scattered bows and
arrows, restored them to him, and uttered manyreassurances. He was so badly frightened that he
could not stand for the trembling of his knees.
Undoubtedly he thought that war had broken out
and that he was the first of its unconscious victims.
After calming him down, we told him what we were
doing, and offered to shoot him meat if he cared to
accompany us. He accepted the offer with joy.
So pleased, and relieved, was he that he slipped
about like a young and nimble goat. His hunting
companion, who all this time had stood atop a hill
at a safe distance, viewed these performances with
170
RIDING THE PLAINS
concern. Our captive shouted loudly for him to come
join us and share in the good fortune. Not he!
he knew a trap when he saw one! Not a bit dis-
turbed by the tales this man would probably carry
back home, our old fellow attached himself to us
for three days
!
Near sundown, to make our promise good, and
also to give our own men a feast, I shot two harte-
beeste near camp.
The evening was beautiful. The Machakos Range,
miles distant across the valley, was mantled with
thick, soft clouds. From our elevation we could
see over them, and catch the glow of moonlight on
their upper surfaces. We were very tired, so we
turned in early and settled ourselves for a good rest.
Outside our tent the little "Injun fire" we had
built for our own comfort died down to coals. Ashort distance away, however, was a huge bonfire
around which all the savages were gathered. They
squatted comfortably on their heels, roasting meat.
Behind each man was planted his glittering long-
bladed spear. The old man held the place of honour,
as befitted his flirtation with death that morning.
Everybody was absolutely happy— a good fire,
plenty of meat, and strangers with whom to have
a grand "jA^wn." The clatter of tongues was a
babel, for almost every one talked at once and ex-
171
AFRICAN CAMP FIRES
citedly. Those who did not talk crooned weird,
improvised chants in which they detailed the doings
of the camp.
We fell very quickly into the half doze of too
great exhaustion. It never became more than a
half doze. I suppose every one who reads this has
had at some time the experience of dropping asleep
to the accompaniment of some noise that ought
soon to cease — a conversation in the next room,
singing, the barking of a dog, the playing of music,
or the like. The fact that it ought soon to cease
permits the falling asleep. When after an interval
the subconsciousness finds the row still going on,
inexcusable and unabated, it arouses the victim to
staring exasperation. That was our case here.
Those natives should have turned in for sleep after
a reasonable amount of powwow. They did nothing
of the kind. On the contrary, I dragged reluctantly
back to consciousness and the realization that they
had quite happily settled down to make a night
of it. I glanced across the little tent to where Cap-
tain Duirs lay on his cot. He was staring straight
upward, his eyes wide open.
After a few seconds he slipped out softly and
silently. Our little fire had sunk to embers. Adozen sticks radiated from the centre of coals.
Each made a firebrand with one end cool to the
172
RIDING THE PLAINS
grasp. Captain Dulrs hurled one of these at the
devoted and unconscious group.
It whirled through the air and fell plunk in the
other fire, scattering sparks and coals in all direc-
tions. The second was under way before the first
had landed. It hit a native with ditto ditto results
plus astonished and grieved language. The rest
followed in rapid-magazine fire. Every one hit its
mark fair and square. The air was full of sparks
exploding in all directions; the brush was full of
Wakamba, their blankets flapping in the breeze
of their going. The convention was adjourned.
There fell the sucking vacuum of a great silence.
Captain Duirs, breathing righteous wrath, flopped
heavily and determinedly down on his cot. I caught
a faint snicker from the tent next door.
Captain Duirs sighed deeply, turned over, and
prepared to sleep. Then one of the dogs uprose— I
think it was Ben— stretched himself, yawned, ap-
proached deliberately, and began to drink from the
canvas bathtub just outside. He drank— lap lap
lap lap lap — for a very long time. It seemed in-
credible that any mere dog— or canvas bathtub —could hold so much water. The steady repetition
of this sound long after it should logically have
ceased was worse than the shenzi gathering around
the fire. Each lap should have been the last, but
173
AFRICAN CAMP FIRES
it was not. The shenzi convention had been abated
with firebrands, but the dog was strictly within
his rights. The poor pups had had a long day with
little water, and they could hardly be blamed for
feeling a bit feverish now. At last Ben ceased.
Next morning Captain Duirs claimed vehemently
that he had drunk two hours forty-nine minutes and
ten seconds. With a contented sigh Ben lay down.
Then Ruby got up, shook herself, and yawned. Abright idea struck her. She too went over and took
a drink. After that I, personally, went to sleep. But
in the morning I found Captain Duirs staring-eyed
and strung nearly to madness, trying feverishly to
calculate how seven dogs drinking on an average of
three hours apiece could have finished by morning.
When Harold Hill innocently asked if he had slept
well, the captain threw the remaining but now extinct
firebrand at him.
One of the safari boys, a big Baganda, had twisted
his foot a little, and it had swelled up considerably.
In the morning he came to have it attended to.
The obvious treatment was very hot water and rest;
but it would never do to tell him so. The recom-
mendation of so simple a remedy would lose me his
faith. So I gave him a little dab of tick ointment
wrapped in a leaf.
"This," said I, "is most wonderful medicine; but
174
RIDING THE PLAINS
it is also most dangerous. If you were to rub it
on your foot or your hand or any part of you, that
part would drop off. But if you wash the part in
very hot water continuously for a half hour, and
then put on the medicine, it is good, and will cure
you very soon." I am sure I do not know what
they put in tick ointment; nor for the purpose did
it greatly matter.
That night, also, Herbert Spencer capped the
climax of his absurdities. The chops he had cooked
did not quite suffice for our hunger, so we instructed
him to give us some of the leg. By this we meant
steak of course. Herbert Spencer was gone so long
a time that finally we went to see what possibly
could be the matter. We found him trying des-
perately to cook the whole leg in a frying pan 1
175
XXII
THE SECOND LIONESS
NOW our luck changed most abruptly. Wehad been riding since early morning over
the wide plains. By and by we came to a wide,
shallow, flood-water course, carpeted with lava,
boulders and scant, scattered brush. Two of us
took one side of it, and two the other. At this we
were just within hailing distance. The boys wan-
dered down the middle.
Game was here very abundant, and in this broken
country proved quite approachable. I saw one
Grant's gazelle head, in especial, that greatly
tempted me; but we were hunting lions, and other
shooting was out of place. Also the prospects for
lions had brightened, for we were continually seeing
hyenas in packs of from three to six. They lay
among the stones, but galloped away at our ap-
proach. The game paid not the slightest attention
to these huge, skulking brutes. One passed within
twenty feet of a hartebeeste; the latter hardly glanced
at him. As the hyena is lazy as well as cowardly,
176
THE SECOND LIONESS
and almost never does his killing, we Inferred
from the presence of so many a good supply of
lion-killed meat. From a tributary ravine we
flushed nineteen!
Harold Hill was riding with me on the right bank.
His quick eye caught a glimpse of something beyond
our companions on the left side. A glance through
the glasses showed me that it was a lion, just dis-
appearing over the hill. At once we turned our
horses to cross. It was a mean job. We were
naturally in a tremendous hurry; and the footing
among those boulders and rounded rocks was so
vile that a very slow trot was the best we could
accomplish. And that was only by standing in
our stirrups, and holding up our horses' heads by
main strength. We reached the skyline in time to
see a herd of game stampeding away from a de-
pression a half mile away. We fixed our eyes on
that point, and a moment later saw the lion or
lioness, as it turned out, leap a little gully and makeout the other side.
The footing down this slope too was appalling,
consisting mainly of chunks of lava interspersed with
smooth, rounded stones and sparse tufts of grass.
In spite of the stones we managed a sort of stumbling
gallop. Why we did not all go down in a heap,
I do not know. At any rate we had no chance to
177
AFRICAN CAMP FIRES
watch our quarry, for we were forced to keep our
eyes strictly to our way. When finally we emerged
from that tumble of rocks, she had disappeared.
Either she had galloped out over the plains, or
she had doubled back to take cover in the ravine.
In the latter case she would stand. Our first job,
therefore, was to determine whether she had escaped
over the open country. To this end we galloped
our horses madly in four different directions, push-
ing them to the utmost, swooping here and there
in wide circles. That was an exhilarating ten minutes
until we had surmounted every billow of the plain,
spied in all directions, and assured ourselves beyond
doubt that she had not run off. The horses fairly
flew, spurning the hard sod, leaping the rock dikes,
skipping nimbly around the pig holes, turning like
cow-ponies under pressure of knee and rein. Finally
we drew up, converged, and together jogged our
sweating horses back to the ravine. There we
learned from the boys that nothing more had been
seen of our quarry.
We dismounted, handed our mounts to their
syces, and prepared to make afoot a clean sweep
of the wide, shallow ravine. Here was where the
dogs came in handy. We left a rear guard of two
men, and slowly began our beat.
The ravine could hardly be called a ravine; rather
178
THE SECOND LIONESS
a shallow depression with banks not over a foot
high, and with a varying width of from two to two-
hundred feet. The grass grew very patchy, and not
very high; in fact, it seemed hardly tall enough to
conceal anything as large as a lioness. We menwalked along the edge of this depression, while the
dogs ranged back and forth in its bottom.
We had gone thus a quarter mile when one of
the rear guard came running up.
''''Bwana^'* said he, "we have seen the lioness.
She is lying in a patch of grass. After you had
passed, we saw her raise her head."
It seemed impossible that she should have escaped
both our eyes and the dogs' noses, but we returned.
The man pointed out a thin growth of dried, yellow
grass ten feet in diameter. Then it seemed even
more incredible. Apparently we could look right
through every foot of it. The man persisted so we
advanced in battle array. At thirty yards Captain
Duirs saw the black tips of her ears. We all looked
hard, and at last made her out, lying very flat,
her head between her paws. Even then she was
shadowy and unreal, and, as I have said, the cover
did not look thick enough to conceal a good-sized
dog.
As though she realized she had been sighted, she
at this moment leaped to her feet. Instantly I
179
AFRICAN CAMP FIRES
put a .405 bullet into her shoulder. Any other lion
I ever saw or heard of would in such circumstances
and at such a distance immediately have charged
home. She turned tail and ran away. I missed
her as she ran, then knocked her down with a third
shot. She got up again, but was immediately hit
by Captain Duir's .350 Magnum and brought to a
halt. The dogs, seeing her turn tail and hearing
our shots, had scrambled madly after her. Wedared not shoot again for fear of hitting one of them;
so we dashed rapidly into the grass and out the
other side. Before we could get to her, she had
sent Ruby flying through the air, and had then fallen
over dead. Ruby got off lucky with only a deep
gash the length of her leg.
This was the only instance I experienced of a
wounded lion showing the white feather. She was,
however, only about three quarters grown, and was
suffering from diarrhoea.
180
XXIII
THE BIG LION
THE boys skinned her while we ate lunch.
Then we started several of them back toward
camp with the trophy, and ourselves cut across
country to a small river known as the Stony Athi.
There we dismounted from our horses, and sent
them and the boys atop the ridge above the stream,
while we ourselves explored afoot the side hill along
the river.
This was a totally different sort of country from
that to which we had been accustomed. Imagine
a very bouldery side hill planted thickly with knee-
high blackberry vines and more sparsely with higher
bushes. They were not really blackberry vines,
of course, but their tripping, tangling, spiky quali-
ties were the same. We had to force our way
through these, or step from boulder to boulder.
Only very rarely did we get a little rubbly clear
space to walk in, and then for only ten or twenty
feet. We tried in spaced intervals to cover the
whole side hill. It was very hard work. The boys,
i8i
AFRICAN CAMP FIRES
with the horses, kept pace with us on the skyline
atop, and two or three hundred yards away.
We had proceeded in this fashion for about a
mile, when suddenly and most unexpectedly, the
biggest lion I ever saw leaped straight up from a
bush twenty-five yards in front of me and with a
tremendous roar vanished behind another bush. I
had just time to throw up the .405 shotgun-fashion
and let drive a snap shot. Clifford Hill, who was
ten yards to my right, saw the fur fly, and we all
heard the snarl as the bullet hit. Naturally we
expected an instant charge, but, as things turned out,
it was evident the lion had not seen us at all. Hehad leaped at the sight of our men and horses on
the skyline, and when the bullet hit he must have
ascribed it to them. At any rate, he began to
circle through the tangled vines toward their direc-
tion.
From their elevation they could follow his move-
ments. At once they set up howls of terror and
appeals for help. Some began frantically to run
back and forth. None of them tried to run away;
there was nowhere to go!
The only thing that saved them was the thick
and spiky character of the cover. The lion, instead
of charging straight and fast, was picking an easy
way.
182
THE BIG LION
We tore directly up hill as fast as we were able,
leaping from rock to rock and thrusting recklessly
through the tangle. About halfway up I jumped
to the top of a high, conical rock, and thence by
good luck caught sight of the lion's great yellow head
advancing steadily about eighty yards away. I took
as good a sight as I could and pulled trigger. The
recoil knocked me clear off the boulder, but as I
fell I saw his tail go up and knew that I had hit.
At once Clifford Hill and I jumped up on the rock
again, but the lion had moved out of sight. Bythis time, however, the sound of the shots and the
smell of blood had caused the dogs to close in. They
did not of course attempt to attack the lion nor
even to get very near him, but their snarling and
barking showed us the beast's whereabout. Even
this much is bad judgment on their part, as a number
of them have been killed at it. The thicket burst
into an unholy row.
We all manoeuvred rapidly for position. Again
luck was with me, for again I saw his great head,
the mane standing out all around it; and for the
second time I planted a heavy bullet square in
his chest. This stopped his advance. He lay
down; his head was up and his eyes glared, as he
uttered the most reverberating and magnificent roars
and growls. The dogs leaped and barked around
183
AFRICAN CAMP FIRES
him. We came quite close, and I planted myfourth bullet in his shoulder. Even this was not
enough. It took a fifth in the same place to finish
him, and he died at last biting great chunks of
earth.
The howls from the hilltop ceased. All gathered
to marvel at the lion's immense size. He measured
three feet nine inches at the shoulder, and nine feet
eleven inches between stakes, or ten feet eleven
inches along contour. This is only five inches
under record. We weighed him piecemeal, after
a fashion, and put him between 550 and 600
pounds.
But these are only statistics and mean little unless
a real attempt is made to visualize them. As a
matter of fact his mere height— that of a medium-
size zebra — was little unless accented by the
impression of his tremendous power and quick-
ness.
We skinned him, and then rode four long hours
to camp. We arrived at dark, and at once set to
work preparing the trophy. A dozen of us squatted
around the skin, working by lantern light. MembaSasa had had nothing to eat since before dawn, but
in his pride and delight he refused to touch a mouth-
ful until the job was finished. Several times we
urged him to stop long enough for even a bite. He184
THE BIG LION
steadily declined, and whetted his knife, his eyes
gleaming with delight, his lips crooning one of his
weird Momumwezi songs. At eleven o'clock the
task was done. Then I presented Memba Sasa with
a tall mug of coffee and lots of sugar. He considered
this a great honour.
i8S
XXIV
THE FIFTEEN LIONS
TWO days before Captain Duirs and I were to
return to Juja we approached, about eleven
o'clock in the morning, a long, low, rugged range
of hills called Lucania. They were not very
high, but bold with cliffs, buttes, and broken
rocky stretches. Here we were to make our final
hunt.
We led our safari up to the level of a boulder flat
between two deep caiions that ran down from the
hills. Here should be water, so we gathered under
a lone little tree, and set about directing the simple
disposition of our camp. Herbert Spencer brought
us a cold lunch, and we sat down to rest and refresh-
ment before tackling the range.
Hardly had we taken the first mouthfuls, however,
when Memba Sasa, gasping for breath, came tearing
up the slope from the canon where he had descended
for a drink.
"Lions!" he cried guardedly, "I went to drink,
and I saw four lions. Two were lying under the
i86
THE FIFTEEN LIONS
shade, but two others were playing like puppies,
one on its back."
While he was speaking a lioness wandered out
from the canon and up the opposite slope. She
was somewhere between six and nine hundred yards
away, and looked very tiny; but the binoculars
brought us up to her with a jump. Through them
she proved to be a good one. She was not at all
hurried, but paused from time to time to yawn and
look about her. After a short interval another,
also a lioness, followed in her footsteps. She too
had climbed well clear when a third, probably a
full-grown but still immature lion, came out, and
after him the fourth.
"You were right" we told Memba Sasa, "there
are your four."
But while we watched a fifth, again at the spaced
interval, this time a maned lion, clambered leisurely
up in the wake of his family; and after him another,
and another, and yet another! We gasped, and sat
.down the better to steady our glasses with our
knees. There seemed no end to lions. They came
out of that apparently inexhaustible canon bed one
at a time, and at the same regular intervals; perhaps
twenty yards or so apart. It was almost as though
they were being released singly. Finally we had
fifteen in sight.
187
AFRICAN CAMP FIRES
It was a most magnificent spectacle, and we could
enjoy it unhurried by the feeling that we were losing
opportunities. At that range it would be silly to
open fire. If we had descended to the canon in
order to follow them out the other side, they would
merely have trotted away. Our only chance was
to wait until they had disappeared from sight, and
then to attempt a wide circle in order to catch them
from the flank. In the meantime we had merely
to sit still.
Therefore we stared through our glasses and en-
joyed to the full this most unusual sight. There
were four cubs about as big as setter dogs; four full-
grown but immature youngsters; four lionesses, and
three male lions. They kept their spaced, single
file formation for two thirds the ascent of the hill—probably the nature of the ground forced them to
it— and then gradually drew together. Near the
top, but still below the summit, they entered a
jumble of boulders and stopped. We could make
out several of them lying down. One fine old yellow
fellow stretched himself comfortably atop a flat
rock, in the position of a bronze lion on a pedestal.
We waited twenty minutes to make sure they were
not going to move. Then, leaving all our men
except the gunbearers under the tree, we slipped
back until out of sight, and began to execute our
i88
THE FIFTEEN LIONS
flank movement. The chances seemed good. The
jumble of boulders was surrounded by open country,
and it was improbable the lions could leave it without
being seen. We had arranged with our men a
system of signals.
For two hours we walked very hard in order to
circle out of sight, down wind, and to gain the other
side of the ridge back of the lions. We purposed
slipping over the ridge and attacking from above.
Even this was but a slight advantage. The job was
a stiff one, for we might expect certainly the majority
to charge.
Therefore when we finally deployed in skirmish
order and bore down on that patch of brush and
boulders, we were braced for the shock of battle.
We found nothing. Our men, however, signalled
that the lions had not left cover. After a little
search, however, we discovered a very shallow de-
pression running slantwise up the hill and back of
the cover. So slight it was that even the glasses
had failed to show it from below. The lions had
in all probability known about us from the start,
and were all the time engaged in withdrawing after
their leisurely fashion.
Of course we hunted for them; in fact we spent
two days at it; but we never found trace of them
again. The country was too hard for tracking. They
189
AFRICAN CAMP FIRES
had left Lucania. Probably by the time we had
completed our two hours of flanking movement they
were five miles away. The presence of cubs would
account for this. In ordinary circumstances we
should have had a wonderful and exciting fight.
But the sight of those fifteen great beasts was one
I shall never forget.
After we had hunted Lucania thoroughly, we
parted company with the Hills, and returned to Juja
Farm.
190
XXV
vol
PART way up the narrow-gauge railroad from
the coast is a station called Voi. On his wayto the interior the traveller stops there for an evening
meal. It is served in a high, wide stone room by
white-robed Swahilis under command of a very
efficient and quiet East Indian. The voyager steps
out into the darkness to look across the way upon
the outlines of two great rounded hills against an
amethyst sky. That is all he ever sees of Voi, for
on the down trip he passes through it about two
o'clock in the morning.
At that particularly trying hour F. and I de-
scended and attempted, by the light of lanterns, to
sort out twenty safari boys strange to us, and mis-
cellaneous camp stores. We did not entirely succeed.
Three men were carried on down the line; and the
fly to our tent was never seen again
The train disappeared. Our boys, shivering,
crept Into corners. We took possession of the
dak-bungalow maintained by the railroad for just
193
AFRICAN CAMP FIRES
such travellers as ourselves. It was simply a high
stone room, with three iron beds, and a corner so
cemented that one could pour pails of water over
one's self without wetting down the whole place. The
beds were supplied with mosquito canopies, and
strong wire springs. Over these we spread our ownbedding, and thankfully resumed our slumbers.
The morning discovered to us Voi as the station,
the district commissioner's house on a distant side
hill, and a fairly extensive East Indian bazaar.
The keepers of the latter traded with the natives.
Immediately about the station grew some flat shady
trees. All else was dense thorn scrub pressing close
about the town. Over opposite were the tall,
rounded mountains.
Nevertheless, in spite of its appearance, Voi has
its importance in the scheme of things. From it,
crossing the great Serengetti desert, runs the track
to Kilimanjaro and that part of German East Africa.
The Germans have as yet no railroad; so they must
perforce patronize the British line this far, and then
trek across. As the Kilimanjaro district is one rich
in natives and trade, the track is well used. Most
of the transport is done by donkeys — either in
carts or under the pack saddle. As the distance from
water to water is very great, the journey is a hard
one. This fact, and the incidental consideration that
194
vol
from fly and hardship the mortality in donkeys is very
heavy, pushes the freight rates away up. And that
fact accounts for the motor car, which has been mypoint of aim from the beginning of this paragraph.
The motor car plies between Voi and the Germanline, at exorbitant rates. Our plan was to have
it take us and some galvanized water tanks out Into
the middle of the desert and dump us down there.
So after breakfast we hunted up the owner.
He proved to be a very short, thick-set, blond
German youth who justified Weber and Fields. In
fact, he talked so exactly like those comedians that
my task in visualizing him to you Is somewhat
lightened. If all. Instead of merely a majority, of
my readers had seen Weber and Fields, that task
would vanish.
We explained our plan, and asked him his
price.
"Sefen hundert and feefty rupees,"* said he un-
compromisingly.
He was abrupt, blunt, and insulting. As we
wanted transportation very much — though not
seven hundred and fifty rupees' worth — we per-
sisted. He offered an Imperturbable take-It-or-
leave-It stolidity. The motor truck stood near. I
said something technical about the engine; then
I9S
AFRICAN CAMP FIRES
something more. He answered these remarks,
though grudgingly. I suggested that it took a
mighty good driver to motor through this rough
country. He mentioned a particular hill. I pro-
posed that we try the station restaurant for beer
while he told me about it. He grunted, but headed
for the station.
For two hours we listened to the most blatant
boasting. He was a great driver; he had driven for
M., the American millionaire; for the Chinese Am-bassador to France; for Grand-duke Alexis; for the
Kaiser himself! We learned how he had been the
trusted familiar of these celebrities, how on various
occasions — all detailed at length — he had been
treated by them as an equal; and he told us sundry
sly, slanderous, and disgusting anecdotes of these
worthies, his forefinger laid one side his nose. Whenwe finally got him worked up to the point of going
to get some excessively bad photographs "I haf
daken myself!" we began to have hopes. So we
tentatively approached once more the subject of
transportation.
Then the basis of the trouble came out. One
Davis, M. P. from England, had also dealt with
our friend. Davis, as we reconstructed him, was of
the blunt type, with probably very little feeling of
democracy for those in subordinate positions, and
196
vol
with most certainly a good deal of insular and racial
prejudice. Evidently a rather vague bargain had
been struck, and the motor had set forth. Then
ensued financial wranglings and disputes as to terms.
It ended by useless hauteur on Davis's part, and in-
excusable but effective action by the German. For
Davis found himself dumped down on the Seren-
getti desert and left there.
We heard all this in excruciatingly funny Weber-
andfieldese, many times repeated. The Germanliterally beat his breast and cried aloud against
Davis. We unblushingly sacrificed a probably per-
fectly worthy Davis to present need, and cried out
against him too.
"Am I like one dog.'"' demanded the Germanfervently.
"Certainly wo/.'" we cried with equal fervour.
We both like dogs.
Then followed wearisomely reiterated assurance
that we, at least, knew how a gentleman should be
treated, and more boasting of proud connection in
the past. But the end of it was a bargain of reason-
able dimensions for ourselves, our personal boys,
and our loads. Under plea of starting our safari
boys off we left him, and crept, with shattered nerves,
around the corner of the dak-bungalow. There we
lurked, busy at pretended affairs, until our friend
197
AFRICAN CAMP FIRES
swaggered away to the Hindu quarters, where, it
seems, he kept his residence.
About ten o'clock a small safari marched in afoot.
It had travelled all of two nights across the Thirst,
and was glad to get there. The single white manin charge had been three years alone among the
natives near Kilimanjaro, and he was now out for
a six months' vacation at home. Two natives in
the uniform of Soudanese troops hovered near him
very sorrowful. He splashed into the water of the
dak-bungalow, and then introduced himself. Wesat in teakwood easy chairs and talked all day. Hewas a most interesting, likable and cordial man,
at any stage of the game. The game, by means
of French vermouth— of all drinks!— progressed
steadily. We could hardly blame him for celebrat-
ing. By afternoon he wanted to give things away.
So insistent was he that F. finally accepted an ebony
walking staff, and I an ebony knife inset with ivory.
If we had been the least bit unscrupulous, I amafraid the relatives at home would have missed
their African souvenirs. He went out via freight
car, all by himself, seated regally in a steamer chair
between both wide-open side doors, one sorrowful
native squatted on either side to see that he did not
lurch out into the landscape.
198
XXVI
THE FRINGE-EARED ORYX
AT ten o'clock the following morning we started.
On the high front seat, under an awning, sat
the German, F., and I. The body of the truck was
filled with safari loads, Memba Sasa, Simba, Mo-hamet, and F.'s boy, whose name I have forgotten.
The arrangement on the front seat was due to a
strike on the part of F.
"Look here," said he to me, "you've got to sit
next that rotter. We want him to bring us back
some water from the other side; and I'd break his
neck in ten minutes. You sit next him and give
him your motor car patter."
Therefore I took the middle seat and played
chorus. The road was not a bad one, as natural
mountain roads go; I have myself driven worse in
California. Our man, however, liked to exaggerate
all the difficulties, and while doing it to point to
himself with pride as a perfect wonder. Between
times he talked elementary mechanics.
"The Inflammation of the sparkling plugs" was
199
AFRICAN CAMP FIRES
one of his expressions that did much to compen-
sate.
The country mounted steadily through the densest
thorn scrub I have ever seen. It was about fifteen
feet high, and so thick that its penetration save by
made tracks would have been an absolute impossi-
bility. Our road ran like a lane between two spiky
jungles. Bold bright mountains cropped up, singly
and in short ranges, as far as the eye could see them.
This sort of thing for twenty miles— more than
a hard day's journey on safari. We made it in a
little less than two hours; and the breeze of our
going kept us reasonably cool under our awning.
We began to appreciate the real value of our diplo-
macy.
At noon we came upon a series of unexpectedly
green and clear small hills just under the frown of
a sheer rock cliff. This oasis in the thorn was oc-
cupied by a few scattered native huts and the usual
squalid Indian dukka, or trading store. At this
last our German friend stopped. From under the
of seat he drew out a collapsible table and a basket
of provisions. These we were invited to share.
Diplomacy's highest triumph!
After lunch we surmounted our first steep grade
to the top of a ridge. This we found to be the
beginning of a long elevated plateau sweeping gently
200
THE FRINGE-EARED ORYX
downward to a distant heat mist which later ex-
perience proved a concealment to snow-capped
Kilimanjaro. The plateau also looked to be covered
with scrub. As we penetrated it, however, we found
the bushes were more or less scattered, while in the
wide, shallow dips between the undulations were
open, grassy meadows. There was no water. Iso-
lated mountains or peaked hills showed here and
there in the illimitable spaces, some of them fairly
hull down, all of them toilsomely distant. This was
the Serengetti itself.
In this great extent of country somewhere were
game herds. They were exceedingly migratory, and
nobody knew very much about them. One of the
species would be the rare and localized fringe-eared
oryx. This beast was the principal zoological end
of our expedition; though, of course, as always, we
hoped for a chance lion. Geographically we wished
to find the source of the Swanee River, and to follow
that stream down to its joining with the Tsavo.
About half-past one we passed our safari boys.
We had intended to stop and replenish their canteens
from our water drums; but they told us they had
encountered a stray and astonishing shower, and did
not need more. We left them trudging cheerfully
across the desert. They had travelled most of the
night before, would do the same in the night to
201
AFRICAN CAMP FIRES
come, and should reach our camping place about
noon of the next day.
We ourselves stopped about four o'clock. In a
few hours we had come a hard three days' march.
Over the side went our goods. We bade the German
a very affectionate farewell; for he was still to fill
our drums from one of the streams out of Kiliman-
jaro and deliver them to us on his return trip next
day. We then all turned to and made camp. The
scrub desert here was exactly like the scrub desert
for the last sixty miles.
The next morning we were up and off before
sunrise. In this job, time was a very large element
of the contract. We must find our fringe-eared
oryx before our water supply gave out. Therefore
we had resolved not to lose a moment.
The sunrise was most remarkable — lacework,
flat clouds, with burnished copper-coloured clouds
behind glowing through the lace. We admired it
for some few moments. Then one of us happened
to look higher. There, above the sky of the horizon,
apparently suspended in midair halfway to the
zenith, hung like delicate bubbles the double snow-
clad peaks of Kilimanjaro. Between them and the
earth we could apparently see clear sky. It was in
reality, of course, the blue heat haze that rarely
leaves these torrid plains. I have seen many moun-
202
THE FRINGE-EARED ORYX
tains in all parts of the world, but none as fan-
tastically insubstantial, as wonderfully lofty, as
gracefully able to yield before clouds and storms
and sunrise glows all the space in infinity they could
possibly use, and yet to tower above them all serene
in an upper space of its own. Nearly every morning
of our journey to come we enjoyed this wonderful
vision for an hour or so. Then the mists closed in.
The rest of the day showed us a grayish sky along
the western horizon, with apparently nothing behind
it.
In the meantime we were tramping steadily ahead
over the desert, threading the thorn scrub, crossing
the wide shallow grass-grown swales, spying about
us for signs of game. At the end of three or four
miles we came across some ostrich and four harte-
beeste. This encouraged us to think we might find
other game soon; for the hartebeeste is a gregarious
animal.
Suddenly we saw a medium-sized squat beast that
none of us recognized, trundling along like a badger,
sixty yards ahead. Any creature not easily identi-
fied is a scientific possibility in Africa. Therefore
we fired at once. One of the bullets hit his fore-
paw. Immediately this astonishing small creature
turned and charged us! If his size had equalled his
ferocity, he would have been a formidable opponent.
203
AFRICAN CAMP FIRES
We had a lively few minutes. He rushed us again
and again, uttering ferocious growls. We had to
step high and lively to keep out of his way. Be-
tween charges he sat down and tore savagely at his
wounded paw. We wanted him as nearly perfect
a specimen as possible, so tried to rap him over the
head with a club. Owing to remarkably long teeth
and claws, this was soon proved impracticable; so
we shot him. He weighed about thirty pounds; and
we subsequently learned that he was a honey
badger, an animal very rarely captured.
We left the boys to take the whole skin and skull
of this beast, and strolled forward slowly. The
brush ended abruptly in a wide valley. It had been
burnt over, and the new grass was coming up green.
We gave one look, and sank back into cover.
The sparse game of the immediate vicinity had
gathered to this fresh feed. A herd of hartebeeste
and gazelle were grazing; and five giraffe adorned
the skyline. But what interested us especially was
a group of about fifty cob-built animals with the
unmistakable rapier horns of the oryx. We recog-
nized them as the rarity we desired.
The conditions were most unfavourable. The
cover nearest them gave a range of three hundred
yards; and even this would bring them directly
between us and the rising sun. There was no help
204
THE FRINGE-EARED ORYX
for it, however. We made our way to the bushes
nearest the herd; and I tried to align the blurs that
represented my sights. At the shot, ineffective,
they raced to the right across our front. We laid
low. As they had seen nothing they wheeled and
stopped after two hundred yards of flight. This
shift had brought the light into better position.
Once more I could define my sights. From the
sitting position I took careful aim at the largest
buck. He staggered twenty feet and fell dead.
The distance was just 381 paces. This lucky shot
was indeed fortunate, for we saw no more fringe-
eared oryx.
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XXVII
ACROSS THE SERENGETTI
WE arrived in camp about noon, almost ex-
hausted with the fierce heat and a six hours'
tramp, to find our German friend awaiting us. Byan irony of fate the drums of water he had brought
back with him were now unnecessary; we had our
oryx. However, we wearily fed him lunch and
listened to his prattle and finally sped him on his
way, hoping never to see him again.
About three o'clock our men came in. We doled
out water rations, and told them to rest in prepara-
tion for the morrow.
Late that night we were awakened by a creaking and
snorting and the flash of torches passing. We looked
out to see a donkey transport toiling slowly along,
travelling thus at night to avoid the terrific day
heats. The two-wheeled carts with their wild and
savage drivers looked very picturesque in the flick-
ering lights. We envied them vaguely their defined
route that permitted night travel, and sank to
sleep.
206
ACROSS THE SERENGETTI
In the morning, however, we found they had left
with us new responsibilities in the shape of an elderly
Somali, very sick, and down with the fever. This
was indeed a responsibility. It was manifestly im-
possible for us to remain there with him; we should
all die of thirst. It was equally impossible to take
him with us, for he was quite unfit to travel under
the sun. Finally, as the best solution of a bad busi-
ness, we left him five gallons of water, some food,
and some quinine, together with the advice to rest
until night, and then to follow his companions along
the beaten track. What between illness and wild
beasts his chances did not look very good, but it
was the best we could do for him. This incident
exemplifies well the cruelty of this singular people.
They probably abandoned the old man because his
groans annoyed them, or because one of them wanted
to ride in his place on the donkey cart.*
We struck off as early as possible through the
thorn scrub on a compass bearing that we hoped
would bring us to a reported swamp at the head of
the Swanee River. The Swanee River is one of
the sources of the Tsavo. Of course this was guess-
work. We did not know certainly the location of
the swamp, its distance from us, nor what lay be-
*I have just heard that this old man survived, and has been singing our
praises in Nairobi as the saviours of his life.
207
AFRICAN CAMP FIRES
tween us and it. However, we loaded all our trans-
portable vessels with water, and set forth.
The scrub was all alike; sometimes thinner, some-
times thicker. We marched by compass until we
had raised a conical hill above the horizon, and then
we bore just to the left of that. The surface of the
ground was cut by thousands of game tracks. They
were all very old, however, made after a rain; and
it was evident the game herds venture into this
country only when it contains rainwater. After
two hours, however, we did see one solitary harte-
breste, whom we greeted as an old friend in desola-
tion. Shortly afterward we ran across one oribi,
which I shot for our own table.
At the end of two hours we sat down. The safari
of twenty men was a very miscellaneous lot, con-
sisting of the rag-tag and bobtail of the bazaars
picked up in a hurry. They were soft and weak,
and they straggled badly. The last weakling—prodded along by one of our two askaris — limped
in only at the end of half an hour. Then we took
a new start.
The sun was by now up and hot. The work was
difficult enough at best, but the weight of the tropics
was now cast in the scale. Twice more within the
next two hours we stopped to let every one catch
up. Each time this required a longer interval. In
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ACROSS THE SERENGETTI
the thorn it was absolutely essential to keep in touch
with every member of the party. A man once lost
would likely remain so, for we could not afford to
endanger all for the sake of one.
Time wore on until noon. Had it not been for a
thin film of haze that now overspread the sky, I
think the sun would have proved too much for some
of the men. Four or five straggled so very badly
that we finally left them in charge of one of our
two askaris, with instructions to follow on as fast
as they could. In order to make this possible, we
were at pains to leave a well-marked trail.
After this fashion, slowly, and with growing
anxiety for some of the men, we drew up on our
landmark hill. There our difficulties increased; the
thorn brush thickened. Only by a series of short
zigzags and by taking advantage of every rhino
trail going in our direction could we make our waythrough it at all; while to men carrying burdens on
their heads the tangle aloft must have been fairly
maddening. So slow did our progress necessarily
become, and so difficult was it to keep in touch with
everybody, that F. and I finally halted for consul-
tation. It was decided that I should push on ahead
with Memba Sasa to make certain that we were
not on the wrong line, while F. and the askaris
struggled with the safari.
r- 209
AFRICAN CAMP FIRES
Therefore I took my compass bearing afresh, and
plunged into the scrub. The sensation was of
hitting solid ground after a long walk through sand.
We seemed fairly to shoot ahead and out of sight.
Whenever we came upon earth we marked it deeply
with our heels; we broke twigs downward, and laid
hastily snatched bunches of grass to help the trail
we were leaving for the others to follow. This, in
spite of our compass, was a very devious track.
Beside the thorn bushes were patches of spiky aloe,
coming into red flower, and the spears of sisal.
After an hour's steady, swift walking the general
trend of the country began to slope downward.
This augured a watercourse between us and the
hills around Kilimanjaro. There could be no doubt
that we would cut it; the only question was whether
it, like so many desert watercourses, might not prove
empty. We pushed on the more rapidly. Then
we caught a glimpse, through a chance opening, of
the tops of trees below us. After another hour we
suddenly burst from the scrub to a strip of green
grass beyond which were the great trees, the palms,
and the festooned vines of a watercourse. Two bush
bucks plunged into the thicket as we approached;
and fifteen or twenty mongooses sat up as straight
and stiff as so many picket pins the better to see us.
For a moment my heart sank. The low under-
210
ACROSS THE SERENGETTI
growth beneath the trees apparently swept unbroken
from where we stood to the low bank opposite. It
was exactly" like the shallow damp but waterless
ravines at home, filled with blackberry vines. Wepushed forward, however, and found ourselves look-
ing down on a smooth, swift-flowing stream.
It was not over six feet wide, grown close with
vines and grasses, but so very deep and swift and
quiet that an extraordinary volume of water passed,
as through an artificial aqueduct. Furthermore,
unlike most African streams, it was crystal clear.
We plunged our faces and wrists in it, and took long,
thankful draughts. It was all most grateful after
the scorching desert. The fresh trees meeting in
canopy overhead were full of monkeys and bright
birds; festooned vines swung their great ropes here
and there; long heavy grass carpeted underfoot.
After we had rested a few minutes we filled our
empty canteens, and prepared to start back for our
companions. But while I stood there, Memba Sasa,
good faithful Memba Sasa, seized both canteens
and darted away.
"Lie down!" he shouted back at me, "I will go
back."
Without protest— which would have been futile
anyway— I sank down on the grass. I was very
tired. A little breeze followed the watercourse; the
211
AFRICAN CAMP FIRES
grass was soft; I would have given anything for a
nap. But in wild Africa a nap is not healthy; so
I drowsily watched the mongooses that had again
come out of seclusion, and the monkeys, and the
birds. At the end of a long time, and close to sun-
down, I heard voices. A moment later F., MembaSasa, and about three quarters of the men came in.
We all, white and black, set to work to make camp.
Then we built smudges and fired guns in the faint
hope of guiding in the stragglers. As a matter of
fact we had not the slightest faith in these expedients.
Unless the men were hopelessly lost they should be
able to follow our trail. They might be almost
anywhere out in that awful scrub. The only course
open to them would be to climb thorn trees for the
night. Next day we would organize a formal search
for them.
In the meantime, almost dead from exhaustion,
we sprawled about everywhere. The men, too
dispirited even to start their own campfires, sat
around resting as do boxers between rounds. Thento us came Memba Sasa, who had already that day
made a double journey, and who should have been
the most tired of all.
"Bwana," said he, "if you will lend me Winchi,*
and a lantern, I will bring in the men."
*His name for the .405 Winchester.
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ACROSS THE SERENGETTI
We lent him his requirements, and he departed.
Hours later he returned, carefully leaned "Winchi"
in the corner of the tent, deposited the lantern, and
stood erect at attention.
"Well, Memba Sasa?" I inquired.
"The men are here."
"They were far?"
"Very far."
'^ Fema, Memba Sasa, assanti sana^*That was his sole — and sufficient reward.
*Very good, Memba Sasa, thanks very much.
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XXVIII
DOWN THE RIVER
RELIEVED now of all anxiety as to water we
had merely to make our way downstream.
First, however, there remained the interesting task
of determining its source.
Accordingly, next day we and our gunbearers left
the boys to a well-earned rest, and set out upstream.
At first we followed the edge of the river jungle,
tramping over hard hot earth, winding in and out
growths of thorn scrub and brilliant aloes. We saw
a herd of impallas gliding like phantoms, and as we
stood in need of meat, I shot at one of them but
missed. The air was very hot and moist. At five
o'clock in the morning the thermometer had stood
at 78; and by noon it had mounted to 106. In
addition the atmosphere was filled with the humidity
that later in the day was to break in extraordinary
deluges. We moved slowly, but even then our
garments were literally dripping wet.
At the end of three miles the stream bed widened.
We came upon beautiful, spacious, open lawns of
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DOWN THE RIVER
from eighty to one hundred acres apiece, separated
from each other by narrow strips of tall forest trees.
The grass was high, and waved in the breeze like
planted grain; the boundary trees resembled artificial
windbreaks of eucalyptus or Normandy poplar.
One might expect a white ranch house beyond some
low clump of trees, and chicken runs, and corrals.
Along these apparent boundaries of forest trees
our stream divided, and divided again; so that we
were actually looking upon what we had come to
seek: the source of the Swanee branch of the Tsavo
River. In these peaceful, protected meadows was
it cradled. From them it sprang full size out into
the African wilderness.
A fine impalla buck grazed in one of these fields.
I crept as near him as I could behind one of the
windbreak rows of trees. It was not very near,
and for the second time I missed. Thereupon we
decided two things: that we were not really meat
hungry, and that yesterday's hard work was not
conducive to to-day's good shooting.
Having thus accomplished the second object of
our expedition, we returned to camp. From that
time begins a regular sequence of events on which
I look back with the keenest of pleasure. The two
constant factors were the river and the great dry
country on either side. Day after day we followed
215
AFRICAN CAMP FIRES
down the one, and we made brief excursions out
into the other. Each night we camped near the
sound of the swift-running, water; where the winds
rustled in the palms; the acacias made lacework
across the skies; and the jungle crouched in velvet
blackness close to earth, like a beast.
Our life in its routine was regular; In its details
bizarre and full of the unexpected. Every morning
we arose an hour before day, and ate by lantern
light and the gleam of fires. At the first gray we
were afoot and on the march. F. and I, with our
gunbearers, then pushed ahead down the river,
leaving the men to come along as fast or as slowly
as they pleased. After about six hours or so of
marching, we picked out a good camp site, and
lay down to await the safari. By two o'clock
camp was made. Also it was very hot. After
a light lunch we stripped to the skin, lay on
our cots underneath the mosquito canopies, and
tried to doze or read. The heat at this time of
day was blighting. About four o'clock, if we hap-
pened to be Inspired by energy, one or the other of
us strolled out at right angles to the stream to see
what we could see. The evening was tepid and
beautiful. Bathed and pajama-clad we lolled in
our canvas chairs, smoking, chatting, or listening
to the innumerable voices of the night.
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DOWN THE RIVER
Such was the simple and almost invariable routine
of our days. But enriching it, varying it, disguising
it even— as rain-squalls, sunshine, cloud shadow, and
unexpected winds modify the landscape so well
known from a study window— were the incredible
incidents and petty adventure of African travel.
The topography of the river itself might be divided
very roughly into three : the headwater country down
to its junction with the Tsavo, the palm-elephant-
grass stretch, and the gorge and hill district just
before it crosses the railroad.
The headwater country is most beautiful. The
stream is not over ten feet wide, but very deep,
swift, and clear. It flows between defined banks, and
is set in a narrow strip of jungle. In places the bed
widens out to a carpet of the greenest green grass
sown with flowers; at other places it offers either
mysterious thickets, spacious cathedrals, or snug
bowers. Immediately beyond the edge of this river
jungle begins the thorn scrub, more or less dense.
Distant single mountains or buttes serve as land-
marks in a brush-grown, gently rising, strongly
rolling country Occasional alluvial flats draw back
to low cliffs not over twenty feet high.
After the junction of the Tsavo palms of various
sorts replace to a large extent the forest trees.
Naturally also the stream widens and flows more
217
AFRICAN CAMP FIRES
slowly. Outside the palms grow tall elephant grass
and bush. Our marching had generally to be done
in the narrow, neutral space between these two
growths. It was pleasant enough, with the river
snatching at the trailing branches, and the birds and
animals rustling away. Beyond the elephant-grass
flats low ridges ran down to the river, varying in
width, but carrying always with them the dense
thorn. Between them ran recesses, sometimes three
or four hundred acres in extent, high with elephant
grass or little trees like popples. So much for the
immediate prospect on our right as we marched.
Across the river to our left were huge riven moun-
tains, with great cliff^s and caiions. As we followed
necessarily every twist and turn of the river, some-
times these mountains were directly ahead of us,
then magically behind, so that we thought we had
passed them by. But the next hour threw them
again across our trail. The ideal path would, of
course, have cut across all the bends and ridges; but
the thorn of the ridges, and the elephant grass of
the flats forbade it. So we marched ten miles to
gain four.
After days of struggle and deception we passed
those mountains. Then we entered a new type of
country where the Tsavo ran in canons between
hills. The high cliffs often towered far above us;
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DOWN THE RIVER
we had to pick our way along narrow river ledges;
again the river ran like a trout stream over riffles
and rapids, while we sauntered along cleared banks
beneath the trees. Had we not been making a
forced march under terrific heat at just that time,
this last phase of the river might have been the
pleasantest of all.
Throughout the whole course of our journey the
rhinoceros was the most abundant of the larger ani-
mals. The indications of old tracks proved that at
some time of the year, or under some different con-
ditions, great herds of the more gregarious plains
antelope and zebra visited the river, but at the time
of our visit they lacked. Rhinoceros, however, in
incredible numbers came regularly to water. Para-
doxically, we saw very few of them; and enjoyed
comparative immunity from their charges. This
was due to the fact that their habits and ours swung
in different orbits. The rhinoceros, after drinking
took to the hot, dry thorn scrub in the low hills; and
as he drank at night, we rarely, encountered him in
the river bottoms where we were marching. This
was very lucky, for the cover was so dense that a
meeting must necessarily be at close quarters.
Indeed these large and truculent beasts were rather
a help than a hindrance, for we often made use of
their wide, clear paths to penetrate some particularly
219
AFRICAN CAMP FIRES
distressing jungle. However, we had several small
adventures with them; just enough to keep us alert in
rounding corners, or approaching bushes — and nine
tenths of our travel was bushes and corners. The big
flat footsteps, absolutely fresh in the dust, padded
methodically ahead of us down the only way until it
seemed that we could not fail to plump upon their
maker around the next bend. We crept forward foot
by foot, every sense alert, finger on trigger. Then
after a time the spoor turned off to the right, toward
the hills. We straightened our backs and breathed
a sigh of relief. This happened over and over again.
At certain times of year also elephants frequent the
banks of the Tsavo in considerable numbers. We saw
many old signs; and once came upon the fresh path
of a small herd. The great beasts had passed by that
very morning. We gazed with considerable awe on
limbs snatched bodily from trees; on flat-topped aca-
cias a foot in diameter pulled up by the roots and
stood upside down; on tree trunks twisted like ropes.
Of the game by far the most abundant were the
beautiful red impalla. We caught glimpses of their
graceful bodies gliding in and out of sight through
the bushes; or came upon them standing in small
openings, their delicate ears pointed to us. They
and the tiny dik-dik furnished our table; and an
occasional waterbuck satisfied the men. One day
220
DOWN THE RIVER
we came on one of the latter beasts sound asleep
in a tiny open space. He was lying down, and his
nose rested against the earth, just like a very old
family horse in a paddock.
Beside these common species were bush buck,
warthog, lesser kudu, giraffe, and leopard. The bush
buckwejumped occasionally quite near at hand. They
ducked their heads low and rushed tearingly to the
next cover. The leopard we heard sighing every
night, and saw their pad marks next day; but only
twice did we catch glimpses of them. One morningwe
came upon the fresh killed carcass of a female lesser
kudu from which, evidently, we had driven the slayer.
These few species practically completed the game
list. They were sufficient for our needs; and the
lesser kudu was a prize much desired for our collec-
tion. But by far the most interesting to me were
the smaller animals, the birds, and the strange, in-
numerable insects.
We saw no natives in the whole course of our
journey.
The valley of the river harboured many monkeys.
They seemed to be of two species, blue and brown,
but were equally noisy and amusing. They retired
ahead of our advance with many remarks, or slipped
past us to the rear without any comments whatever.
When we made camp they retired with indignant
221
AFRICAN CAMP FIRES
protests, and when we had quite settled down, they
returned as near as they dared.
One very hot afternoon I lay on my canvas cot
in the open staring straight upward into the over-
arching greenery of the trees. This is a very pleasant
thing to do. The beautiful upspreading, outreach-
ing of the tree branches and twigs intrigue the eye;
the leaves make fascinating hypnotically waving
patterns against a very blue sky; and in the chambers
and galleries of the upper world the birds and in-
sects carry on varied businesses of their own. After
a time the corner of my eye caught a quick move-
ment far to the left and in a shadow. At once I
turned my attention that way. After minute
scrutiny I at length made out a monkey. Evidently
considering himself quite unobserved, he was slowly
and with great care stalking our camp. Inch by
inch he moved, taking skilful advantage of every bit
of cover, flattening himself along the limbs, hunching
himself up behind bunches of leaves, until he had
gained a big limb directly overhead. There he
stretched flat, staring down at the scene that had
so strongly aroused his curiosity. I lay there for
over two hours reading and dozing. My friend
aloft never stirred. When dusk fell he was still
there. Some time after dark he must have regained
his band, for in the morning the limb was vacant.
222
DOWN THE RIVER
Now comes the part of this story that really needs
a witness, not to veracity perhaps, but to accuracy
of observations. Fortunately I have F. About
noon next day the monkey returned to his point of
observation. He used the same precautions as to
concealment; he followed his route of the day before;
he proceeded directly to his old conning tower on
the big limb. It did not take him quite so long to
get there, for he had already scouted out the trail.
And close at his heels follozved two other monkeys!
They crawled where he crawled; they scrooched
where he scrooched; they hid where he hid; they flat-
tened themselves out by him on the big limb and all
three of them passed the afternoon gazing down on
the strange and fascinating things below. Whether
these newcomers were part of the first one's family
out for a treat, or whether they were Cook's Tourists
of the Jungle in charge of my friend's competence
as a guide, I do not know.
Farther down the river F. and I stopped for some
time to watch the crossing of forty-odd of the little
blue monkeys. The whole band clambered to near
the top of a tall tree growing by the water's edge.
There, one by one, they ran out on a straight over-
hanging limb and cast themselves into space. Onthe opposite bank of the river, and leaning well
out, grew a small springy bush. Each monkey
223
AFRICAN CAMP FIRES
landed smash in the middle of this; clasped it with
all four hands; swayed alarmingly; recovered and
scampered ashore. It was rather a nice problem
in ballistics, this; for the mistake in calculation of
a foot in distance or a pound in push would land
Mr. Monkey in the water. And the joke of it was
that directly beneath that bush lay two hungry-
looking crocodiles! As each tiny body hurtled
through the air I'll swear a look of hope came into
the eyes of those crocs. We watched until the last
had made his leap. There were no mistakes. The
joke was on the crocodiles.
We encountered quite a number of dog-faced
baboons. These big apes always retreated very
slowly and noisily. Scouts in the rear guard were
continually ascending small trees or bushes for a
better look at us, then leaping down to make dis-
paraging remarks. One lot seemed to show such
variation in colour from the usual that we shot
one. The distance was about two hundred and
fifty yards. Immediately the whole band — a hun-
dred or so strong— dropped on all fours and started
in our direction. This was rather terrifying. How-ever, as we stood firm, they slowly came to a halt
at about seventy yards, barked and chattered for
a moment, then hopped away to right and left.
224
XXIX
THE LESSER KUDU
ABOUT eight o'clock, the evening of our first
day on the Swanee, the heat broke in a trop-
ical downpour. We heard it coming from a long
distance, like the roar of a great wind. The velvet
blackness, star hung, was troubled by an invisible,
blurring mist, evidenced only through a subtle
effect on the subconsciousness. Every leaf above
us, in the circle of our firelight, depended absolutely
motionless from its stem. The insects had ceased
their shrilling; the night birds their chirping; the
animals, great and small, their callings or their
stealthy rustling to and fro. Of the world of sound
there remained only the crackling of our fires, the
tiny singing of the blood in our ears, and that far-
off, portentous roar. Our simple dispositions were
made. Trenches had been dug around the tents;
the pegs had been driven well home; our stores had
been put in shelter. We waited silently, puffing
away at our pipes.
The roaring increased in volume. Beneath it we
225
AFRICAN CAMP FIRES
began to hear the long, rolling crash of thunder.
Overhead the stars, already dimmed, were suddenly-
blotted from existence. Then came the rain; In a
literal deluge; as though the god of floods had turned
over an entire reservoir with one twist of his mighty
hand. Our fire went out instantly; the whole world
went out with it. We lay on our canvas cots unable
to see a foot beyond our tent opening; unable to
hear anything but the insistent, terrible drumming
over our heads; unable to think of anything through
the tumult of waters. As a man's body might strug-
gle from behind a waterfall through the torrents,
so our imaginations, half-drowned, managed dimly
to picture forth little bits — the men huddled close
in their tiny tents, their cowled blankets over their
heads. All the rest of the universe had gone.
After a time the insistent beat and rush of waters
began to wear through our patience. We willed
that this wracking tumult should cease; we willed
it with all the force that was in us. Then, as this
proved vain, we too humped our spiritual backs,
cowled our souls with patience, and waited dumbly
for the force of the storm to spend itself. Our
faculties were quite as effectually drowned out by
the unceasing roar and crash of the waters as our
bodily comfort would have been had we lacked the
protection of our tent.
226
THE LESSER KUDU
Abruptly the storm passed. It did not die awayslowly in the diminuendo of ordinary storms. It
ceased as though the reservoir had been tipped back
again. The rapid drip drip drip of waters now madethe whole of sound; all the rest of the world lay
breathless. Then, inside our tent, a cricket struck
up bravely.
This homely, cheerful little sound roused us. Wewent forth to count damages and to put our house
in order. The men hunted out dry wood and made
another fire; the creatures of the jungle and the
stars above them ventured forth.
Next morning we marched into a world swept
clean. The ground was as smooth as though a
new broom had gone over it. Every track now was
fresh, and meant an animal near at hand. The
bushes and grasses were hung with jewels. Merry
little showers shook down from trees sharing a
joke with some tiny wind. White steam rose from
a moist, fertile-looking soil. The smell of greenhouses
was in the air. Looking back we were stricken
motionless by the sight of Kilimanjaro, its twin
peaks suspended against a clean blue sky, fresh
snow mantling its shoulders.
This day, so cheeringly opened, was destined to
fulfil its promise. In the dense scrub dwells a
shy and rare animal called the lesser kudu, speci-
227
AFRICAN CAMP FIRES
mens of which we greatly desired. The beast keeps
to the thickest and driest cover, where it is impos-
sible to see fifty yards ahead, but where the slightest
movement breaks one of the numberless dry inter-
lacements of which the place seems made. Tomove really quietly one could not cover over a half
mile in an hour. As the countryside extends a
thousand square miles or more, and the lesser kudu
is rare, it can be seen that hunting them might have
to be a slow and painful process. We had twice
seen their peculiar tracks.
On this morning, however, we caught a glimpse
of the beast itself. A flash of gray, with an impres-
sion of the characteristic harnesslike stripes — that
was all. The trail, in the soft ground, was of course
very plain. I left the others, and followed it into
the brush. As usual the thorn scrub was so thick
that I had to stoop and twist to get through it at
all, and so brittle that the least false move made a
crackling like a fire. The rain of the night before
had, however, softened the debris lying on the
ground. I moved forward as quickly as I could,
half suffocated in the steaming heat of the dense
thicket. After three or four hundred yards the
beast fell into a walk, so I immediately halted. I
reasoned that after a few steps at this gait he would
look back to see whether or not be was followed,
228
THE LESSER KUDU
If his scouting showed him nothing, he might throw
off suspicion. After ten minutes I crept forward
again. The spoor showed my surmises to be correct,
for I came to where the animal had turned, behind
a small bush, and had stood for a few minutes.
Taking up the tracks from this point I was delighted
to find that the kudu had forgotten its fear, and was
browsing. At the end of five minutes more of very
careful work, I was fortunate enough to see it,
feeding from the top of a small bush thirty-five
yards away. The raking shot from the Springfield
dropped it in its tracks.
It proved to be a doe, a great prize of course, but
not to be compared with the male. We skinned
her carefully, and moved on, delighted to have the
species.
Our luck was not over, however. At the end of
six hours we picked our camp in a pretty grove by
the swift-running stream. There we sat down to
await the safari. The treetops were full of both
the brown and blue monkeys, baboons barked at
us from a distance, the air was musical with manysweet birds. Big thunder clouds were gathering
around the horizon.
The safari came in. Mohamet immediately sought
us out to report, in great excitement, that he had
seen five kudu across the stream. He claimed to
229
AFRICAN CAMP FIRES
have watched them even after the safari had passed;
and that they had not been alarmed. The chance
was slight that those kudu could be found, but still
it was a chance. Accordingly we rather reluctantly
gave up our plans for a loaf and a nap. Mohametsaid the place was an hour back; we had had six
hours' march already. However, about two o'clock
we set out. Before we had arrived quite at the
spot we caught a glimpse of the five kudu as they
dashed across a tiny opening ahead of us. They
had moved downstream and crossed the river.
It seemed rather hopeless to follow them into that
thick country once they had been alarmed, but the
prize was great. Therefore Memba Sasa and I took
up the trail. We crept forward a mile, very quiet,
very tense— very sweaty. Then simultaneously
through a chance opening and a long distance away
we caught a patch of gray with a single transverse
white stripe. There was no chance to ascertain the
sex of the beast, nor what part of its anatomy was
thus exposed. I took a bull's-eye chance on that
patch of gray; had the luck to hit it in the middle.
The animal went down. Memba Sasa leaped for-
ward like a madman; I could not begin to keep pace
with him. When I had struggled through the
thorn, I found him dancing with delight.
*'Monuome,bzuana! (Buck, master)!" he cried as
230
THE LESSER KUDU
soon as he saw me, and made a spiral gesture in
imitation of the male's beautiful corkscrew horns.
While the men prepared the trophy, F. and I
followed on after the other four to see what they
would do, and speedily came to the conclusion that
we were lucky to land two of the wily beasts. The
four ran compactly together and in a wide curve
for several hundred yards. Then two faced directly
back, while the other two, one on either side, made
a short detour out and back to guard the flanks.
We did not get back to camp until after dark.
A tremendous pair of electric storms were volleying
and roaring at each other across the space of night;
leopards were crying; a pack of wild dogs were
barking vociferously. The camp, as we approached
it, was a globe of light in a bower of darkness. The
fire, shining and flickering on the under sides of the
leaves, lent them a strangely unreal stagelike ap-
pearance; the porters, their half-naked bodies and
red blankets catching the blaze, roasted huge chunks
of meat over little fires.
We ate a belated supper in comfort, peace, and
satisfaction. Then the storms joined forces and fell
upon us.
231
XXX
ADVENTURES BY THE WAY
WE journeyed slowly on down the stream.
Interesting things happened to us. The
impressions of that journey are of two sorts; the
little isolated details and the general background of
our day's routine, with the gray dawn, the great
heats of the day, the blessed evening and its fireflies;
the thundering of heaven's artillery, and the down-
pour of torrents; the hot, high, crackling thorn scrub
into which we made excursions; the swift-flowing
river with its palms and jungles; outleaning palms
trailing their fronds just within the snatch of the
flood-waters; wide flats in the embrace of the river
bends, or extending into the low hills, grown thick
with lush green and threaded with rhinoceros paths;
the huge sheer cliff mountains over the way; distant
single hills far down. The mild discomfort of the
start before daylight clearly proving the thorns
and stumbling blocks; the buoyant cheerfulness of
the first part of the day, with the grouse rocketing
straight up out of the elephant grass, the birds
232
ADVENTURES BY THE WAY
singing everywhere, and the beasts of the jungle
still a-graze at the edges; the growing weight of the
sun, as though a great pressing hand were laid upon
the shoulders; the suffocating, gasping heat of after-
noon, and the gathering piling black and white
clouds; the cool evening in pajamas with the fireflies
flickering among the bushes, the river singing, and
little breezes wandering like pattering raindrops in
the dry palm leaves— all these, by repetition of main
elements, blend in my memory to form a single image.
To be sure each day the rock pinnacles over the waychanged slightly their compass bearings, and little
variations of contour lent variety to the procession
of days. But in essential they were of one kin.
But here and there certain individual scenes and
incidents stand out clearly and alone. Without
reference to my notebook I could not tell you their
chronological order, nor the days of their happening.
They occurred, without correlation.
Thus one afternoon at the loafing hour, when F.
was sound asleep under his mosquito bar, and I
in my canvas chair was trying to catch the breeze
from an approaching deluge, to me came a total
stranger in a large turban. He was without arms
or baggage of any sort, an alien in a strange and
savage country.
233
AFRICAN CAMP FIRES
"Jambo, bwana nCkuhwal (Greeting, great mas-
ter!)" said he.
^^Jambo,''^ said I, as though his existence were
not in the least surprising, and went on reading.
This showed him that I was indeed a great master.
After a suitable interval, I looked up.
^^Wataka neenee? (What do you want?)" I de-
manded.
^^Nataka sema qua heri (I want to say good-
bye)," said this astonishing individual.
I had, until that moment, been quite unaware of
his existence. As he had therefore not yet said
"How do you do," I failed to fathom his reasons
for wanting to say "good-bye." However, far be it
from me to deny any one innocent pleasure, so I
gravely bade him good-bye, and he disappeared into
the howling wilderness whence he had come.
One afternoon we came upon two lemurs seated
gravely side by side on a horizontal limb ten feet up
a thorn tree. They contemplated us with the preter-
natural gravity of very young children, and without
the slightest sign of fear. We coveted them as
pets for Billy, but soon discovered that their apparent
tameness was grounded on good solid common sense.
The thorns of that thorn tree ! We left them
sitting upright, side by side.
234
ADVENTURES BY THE WAY
A little farther on, and up a dry earthy side hill,
a medium-sized beast leaped from an eroded place
fairly under my feet and made off with a singularly
familiar kiyi. It was a strange-looking animal, ap-
parently brick red in colour. When I had collected
myself I saw it was a wild dog. It had been asleep
in a warm hollow of red clay, and had not awakened
until I was fairly upon it. We had heard these
beasts nearly every night, but this was the first we
had seen. Some days later we came upon the
entire pack drinking at the river. They leaped
suddenly across our front eighty yards away, their
heads all turned toward us truculently, barking at
us like so many watch dogs. They made off, but
not as though particularly alarmed.
One afternoon I had wounded a good warthog
across the river; and had gone downstream to find
a dry way over. F., more enthusiastic, had plunged
in, and promptly attacked the warthog. He was
armed with the English service revolver shooting
the .455 Ely cartridge. It is a very short stubby
bit of ammunition. I had often cast doubt on its
driving power as compared to the .45 Colt, for
example. F., as a loyal Englishman, had, of course,
defended his army's weapon. When I reached the
centre of disturbance I found that F. had emptied
235
AFRICAN CAMP FIRES
his revolver three times — eighteen shots — into the
head and forequarters of that warthog without
much effect. Incidentally the warthog had given
him a good lively time, charging again and again.
The weapon has not nearly the shocking power of
even our .38 service— a cartridge determined as too
light for serious business.
One afternoon I gave my shotgun to one of the
porters to carry afield, remarking facetiously to all
and sundry that he looked like a gunbearer. After
twenty minutes we ran across a rhinoceros. I spent
some time trying to manoeuvre into position for a
photograph of the beast. However, the attempt
failed. We managed to dodge his rush. Then,
after the excitement had died, we discovered the
porter and the shotgun up a tree. He descended
rather shamefaced. Nobody said anything about
it. A half hour later we came upon another rhino-
ceros. The beast was visible at some distance,
and downhill. Nevertheless the porter moved a
little nearer a tree. This was too much for MembaSasa. All the rest of the afternoon he "joshed"
that porter in much the same terms we would have
employed in the same circumstances.
"That place ahead," said he, "looks like a good place
for rhinoceros. Perhaps you'd better climb a tree."
236
ADVENTURES BY THE WAY
"There is a dik-dik; a bush is big enough to climb
for him."
"Are you afraid of jackals, too?"
The fireflies were our regular evening companions.
We caught one or two of them for the pleasure of
watching them alternately igniting and extinguishing
their little lamps. Even when we put them in a
bottle they still kept up their performance bravely.
But beside them we had an immense variety of
evening visitors. Beetles of the most inconceivable
shapes and colours, all sorts of moths, and number-
less strange things— leaf insects, walking-stick insects,
exactly like dry twigs, and the fierce, tall, praying
mantis with their mock air of meekness and devotion.
Let one of the other insects stray within reach and
their piety was quickly enough abandoned! One
beetle about three eighths of an inch across was
oblong in shape and of pure glittering gold. His
wing covers, on the other hand, were round and
transparent. The effect was of a jewel under a
tiny glass case. Other beetles were of red dotted
with black, or of black dotted with red ; they sported
stripes, or circles of plain colours; they wore long
slender antennae, or short knobby horns; they car-
ried rapiers or pinchers, long legs or short. In fact
they ran the gamut of grace and horror, so that
237
AFRICAN CAMP FIRES
an inebriate would find here a great rest for the
imagination.
After we had gone to bed we noticed more pleas-
antly our cricket. He piped up, you may remember,
the night of the first great storm. That evening he
took up his abode in some fold or seam of our tent,
and there stayed throughout all the rest of the
journey. Every evening he tuned up cheerfully;
and we dropped to sleep to the sound of his homelike
piping. We grew very fond of him; as one does of
everything in this wild and changing country that
can represent a stable point of habitude.
Nor must I forget one evening when all of a sudden
out of the darkness came a tremendous hollow
booming, like the beating of war drums or the
bellowing of some strange great beast. At length
we identified the performer as an unfamiliar kind
of frog!
238
XXXI
THE LOST SAFARI
WE were possessed of a map of sorts, consisting
mostly of wide blank spaces, with an oc-
casional tentative mountain, or the probable course
of streams marked thereon. The only landmark
that interested us was a single round peak situated
south of our river and at a point just before we
should cross the railroad at Tsavo Station. There
came a day when, from the top of a hill where we
had climbed for the sake of the outlook, we thought
we recognized that peak. It was about five miles
away as the crow flies.
Then we returned to camp and made the fatal
mistake of starting to figure. We ought to cover
the distance, even with the inevitable twists and
turns, in a day; the tri-weekly train passed through
Tsavo the following night; if we could catch that
we would save a two days' wait for the next train.
You follow the thought. We arose very early the
next morning to get a good start on our forced march.
There is no use in spinning out a sad tale. We239
AFRICAN CAMP FIRES
passed what we thought must be our landmark hill
just eleven times. The map showed only one butte;
as a matter of fact there were dozens. At each
disappointment we had to reconstruct our theories.
It is the nature of man to do this hopefully— Tsavo
Station must be just around the next bend. Wemarched six hours without pause; then began to
save ourselves a little. By all the gods of logical
reasoning we proved Tsavo just beyond a certain
fringe of woods. When we arrived we found that
there the river broke through a range of hills by wayof a deep gorge. It was a change from the ever-
lasting scrub, with its tumbling waters, its awful
cliffs, its luxuriant tropical growths; but it was by
that the more difficult to make our way through.
Beyond the gorge we found any amount of hills,
kopjes, buttes, sugar loafs, etc., each isolated from
its fellows, each perfectly competent to serve as
the map's single landmark.
We should have camped, but we were very anxious
to make that train; and we were convinced that
now, after all that work, Tsavo could not be far
away. It would be ridiculous and mortifying to
find we had camped almost within sight of our desti-
nation !
The heat was very bad, and the force of the sun
terrific. It seemed to possess actual physical
24JO
THE LOST SAFARI
weight, and to press us down from above. Wefilled our canteens many times at the swift-running
stream, and emptied them as often. By two o'clock
F. was getting a little wobbly from the sun. Wetalked of stopping; when an unexpected thunder
shower rolled out from behind the mountains, and
speedily overcast the entire heavens. This shadow
relieved the stress. F., much revived, insisted that
we proceed. So we marched; and passed many more
hills.
In the meantime it began to rain, after the whole-
hearted tropical fashion. In two minutes we were
drenched to the skin. I kept my matches and note-
book dry by placing them in the crown of my cork
helmet. After the intense heat this tepid downpour
seemed to us delicious.
And then, quite unexpectedly, of course, we came
around a bend to make out through the sheets of
rain the steel girders of the famous Tsavo bridge.*
We clambered up a steep slippery bank to the
right of way, along which we proceeded half a mile
to the station. '
This consisted of two or three native huts, a house
for the East Indian in charge, and the Station build-
ing itself. The latter was a small frame structure
*This is the point at which construction was stopped by man-eating lions.
See Patterson's "The Man-eaters of Tsavo."
241
AFRICAN CAMP FIRES
with a narrow floorless veranda. There was no
platform. Drawing close on all sides was the in-
terminable thorn scrub. Later, when the veil of
rain had been drawn aside, we found that Tsavo,
perched on a side hill, looked abroad over a wide
prospect. For the moment all we saw was a dark,
dismal, dripping station wherein was no sign of life.
We were beginning to get chilly, and we wanted
very much some tea, fire, a chance to dry, pending
the arrival of our safari. We jerked open the door
and peered into the inky interior
"Babu!" yelled F., "Babu!"
From an inner back room came the faint answer
in most precise English.
"I can-not come; I am pray-ing."
There followed the sharp, quick tinkle of a little
bell — the Indian manner of calling upon the Lord's
attention.
We both knew better than to buck the Insti-
tutions of the East; so we waited with what
patience we had, listening to the intermittent tink-
ling of the little bell. At the end of fully fifteen
minutes the devotee appeared. He proved to be
a mild, deprecating little man, very eager to help,
but without resources. He was a Hindu, and lived
mainly on tea and rice. The rice was all out, but
he expected more on the night train. There was no
242
THE LOST SAFARI
trading store here. He was the only inhabitant.
After a few more answers he disappeared, to return
carrying two pieces of letter paper on which were
tea and a little coarse native sugar. These, with a
half dozen very small potatoes, were all he had to
offer.
It did not look very encouraging. We had ab-
solutely nothing in which to boil water. Of course
we could not borrow of our host; caste stood in the
way there. If we were even to touch one of his
utensils, that utensil was for him defiled forever.
Nevertheless as we had eaten nothing since four
o'clock that morning, and had put a hard day's work
behind us, we made an effort. After a short search
we captured a savage possessed of a surfuria, or
native cooking pot. Memba Sasa scrubbed this
with sand. First we made tea in it, and drank turn
about, from its wide edge. This warmed us up
somewhat. Then we dumped in our few potatoes
and a single guinea fowl that F. had decapitated
earlier in the day. We ate; and passed the pot over
to Memba Sasa.
So far, so good; but we were still very wet, and the
uncomfortable thought would obtrude Itself that
the safari might not get In that day. It behooved
us at least to dry what we had on. I hunted up
Memba Sasa, whom I found In a native hut. A243
AFRICAN CAMP FIRES
fire blazed in the middle of the floor. I stooped low
to enter, and squatted on my heels with the natives.
Slowly I steamed off' the surface moisture. We had
rather a good time, chatting and laughing. After
a while I looked out. It had stopped raining. There-
fore I emerged and set some of the men collecting
firewood. Shortly I had a fine little blaze going
under the veranda roof of the station. F. and I
hung out our breeches to dry, and spread the tails
of our skirts over the heat. F. was actually the
human chimney, for the smoke was pouring in clouds
from the breast and collar of his shirt. We were
fine figures for the public platform of a railway
station
!
We had just about dried off and had reassumed our
thin and scanty garments, when the babu emerged.
We stared in drop-jawed astonishment. He had
muffled his head and mouth in a most brilliant scarf,
as if for zero weather; although dressed otherwise
in the usual pongee. Under one arm he carried a
folded clumsy cotton umbrella; around his waist he
had belted a huge knife; in his other hand he carried
his battle-axe. I mean just that— his battle-axe.
We had seen such things on tapestries or in mu-
seums, but did not dream that they still existed
out of captivity. This was an oriental looking
battle-axe with a handle three feet long, a spike up
244
THE LOST SAFARI
top, a spike out behind, and a half-moon blade in
front. The babu had with a little of his signal paint
done the whole thing, blade and all, to a brilliant
window-shutter green.
As soon as we had recovered our breath, we asked
him very politely the reason for these stupendous
preparations. It seemed that it was his habit to
take a daily stroll just before sunset, "for the
sake of the health," as he told us in his accurate
English.
"The bush is full of bad men," he explained,
"who would like to kill me; but when they see this
axe and this knife they say to each other, 'There
walks a very bad man. We dare not kill him.'"
He marched very solemnly a quarter mile up the
track and back, always in plain view. Promptly
on his return he dove into his little back room where
the periodic tinkling of his praying bell for some
time marked his gratitude for having escaped the
"bad men."
The bell ceased. Several times he came to the
door, eyed us timidly, and bolted back into the
darkness. Finally he approached to within ten feet,
twisted his hands and giggled in a most deprecating
fashion.
"What is the use of this killing game?" he gabbled
as rapidly as he could. "Man should not destroy
245
AFRICAN CAMP FIRES
what man cannot first create." After which he
giggled again, and fled.
His conscience, evidently, had driven him to this
defiance of our high and mightinesses against his
sense of politeness and his fears.
About this time my boy Mohamet and the cook
drifted in. They reported that they had left the
safari not far back. Our hopes of supper and
blankets rose. They declined, however, with the
gathering darkness, and were replaced by wrath
against the faithless ones. Memba Sasa, in spite
of his long day, took a gun and disappeared in the
darkness. He did not get back until nine o'clock,
when he suddenly appeared in the doorway to lean
the gun in the corner, and to announce, ^^Hapana
safari.^^
We stretched ourselves on a bench and a table —the floor was impossible— and took what sleep we
could. In the small hours the train thundered
through, the train we had hoped to catch I
246
XXXII
THE BABU
WE stretched ourselves stiffly in the first gray of
dawn, wondering where we could get a
mouthful of breakfast. On emerging from the station
a strange and gladsome sight met our eyes — viz.,
chop boxes and gun cases put off from last night's
train, and belonging to some sportsman not yet
arrived. Necessity knows no law; so we promptly
helped ourselves to food and gun cleaning imple-
ments. Much refreshed we lit our pipes, and settled
ourselves to wait for our delinquents.
Shortly after sunrise an Indian track inspector
trundled in on a handcar propelled by two natives.
He was a suave and corpulent person with a very
large umbrella and beautiful silken garments.
The natives upset the handcar off the track, and
the newcomer settled himself for an enjoyable
morning. He and the babu discussed ethics and
metaphysical philosophy for three solid hours. Evi-
dently they came from different parts of India, and
their only common language was English. Through
247
AFRICAN CAMP FIRES
the thin partition in the station building we could
hear plainly every word. It was very interesting.
Especially did we chortle with delight when the
inspector began one of his arguments somewhat as
follows
:
"Now the two English who are here. They
possess great sums of wealth" — F. nudged me de-
lightedly, "and they have weapons to kill, and muchwith which to do things, yet their savage minds "
It was plain, rank, eavesdropping, but most
illuminating, thus to get at first hand the Eastern
point of view as to ourselves; to hear the bloodless,
gentle shell of Indian philosophy described by be-
lievers. They discussed the most minute and im-
practical points, and involved themselves in the most
uncompromising dilemmas.
Thus the gist of one argument was as follows:
All sexual intercourse is sin, but the race must go
forward by means of sexual intercourse; therefore
the race is conceived in sin and is sinful; but it Is a
great sin for me, as an individual, not to carry
forward the race, since the Divine Will decrees that
in some way the race is necessary to it. Therefore
it would seem that man is in sin whichever way you
look at it"
"But," interposes the inspector firmly but
politely, "Is It not possible that sexual sin and the
248
THE BABU
sin of opposing Divine Will may be of balance in the
spirit, so that in resisting one sort a man acquires
virtue to commit the other without harm "
And so on for hours.
At twelve-thirty the safari drifted in. Consider
that fact, and what it meant. The plain duty of
the headman was, of course, to have seen that the
men followed us in the day before. But allowing,
for the sake of argument, that this was impossible
and that the men had been forced by the exhaustion
of some of their number to stop and camp. If they
had arisen betimes they should have completed the
journey in two hours, at most. That should have
brought them in by half-past seven or eight o'clock.
But a noon arrival condemned them without the
necessity of argument. They had camped early;
had arisen very, very late; and had dawdled on
the road.
We ourselves gave the two responsible headmen
twenty lashes apiece; then turned over to them the
job of thrashing the rest. Ten per man was the
allotment. They expected the punishment; took it
gracefully. Some even thanked us when it was
over! The babu disappeared in his station.
About an hour later he approached us, very
deprecating, and handed us a telegram. It was
from the district commissioner at Voi ordering us
249
AFRICAN CAMP FIRES
to report for "flogging porters on the Tsavo Sta-
tion platform."
"I am truly sorry, I am truly sorry," the babu
was murmuring at our elbows.
"What does this mean?" we demanded of him.
He produced a thick book.
"It is in here— the law," he explained. "Youmust not flog men on the station platform. It was
my duty to report."
"How did we know that } Why didn't you tell us ?"
"If you had gone there" — he pointed ten feet
away to a spot exactly like all other spots— " it
would have been off the platform. Then I had
nothing to say."
We tried to become angry.
"But why in blazes couldn't you have told us of
that quietly and decently.'* We'd have moved."
"It is the law " He tapped his thick book.
"But we cannot be supposed to know by heart
every law in that book. Why didn't you warn us
before reporting.'*" we insisted.
"lam truly sorry," he repeated. "I hope and
trust it will not prove serious. But it is in the
book."
We continued in the same purposeless fashion
for a moment or so longer. Then the babu ended
the discussion thus:
250
THE BABU
"It was my duty. I am truly sorry. Suppose I
had not reported and should die to-day, and should
go to heaven, and God should ask me, 'Have you
done your duty to-day?' what should I say to Him?"We gave it up; we were up against Revealed
Religion.
So that night we took a freight train southward to
Voi, leaving the babu and his prayer bell, and his
green battle-axe and his conscience alone in the
wilderness. We had quite a respect for that babu.
The district commissioner listened appreciatively
to our tale.
"Of course I shall not carry the matter further,"
he told us, "but having known the babu, you must
see_that once he had reported to me I was com-
pelled to order you down here. I am sorry for the
inconvenience."
And when we reflected on the cataclysmic up-
heaval that babu would have undergone had we not
been summoned after breaking one of The Laws
in The Book, we had to admit the district com-
missioner was right.
251
XXXIII
OVER THE LIKIPIA ESCARPMENT
OWING to an outbreak of bubonic plague,
and consequent quarantine, we had recruited
our men outside Nairobi and had sent them, in
charge of Cuninghame, to a little station up the
line.
Billy and I saw to the loading of our equipment
on the train, and at two o'clock, in solitary state,
set forth. Our only attendants were Mohamet and
Memba Sasa, who had been fumigated and in-
oculated and generally Red-Crossed for the purpose.
The little narrow-gauge train doubled and twisted
in its climb up the range overlooking Nairobi and
the Athi Plains. Fields of corn grew so tall as
partially to conceal villages of round, grass-thatched
huts with conical roofs; we looked down into deep
ravines where grew the broad-leaved bananas; the
steep hillsides had all been carefully cultivated.
Savages leaning on spears watched us puff heavily
by. Women, richly ornamented with copper wire or
beads, toiled along bent under loads carried by
255
AFRICAN CAMP FIRES
means of a band across the top of the head.* Nakedchildren rushed out to wave at us. We were steam-
ing quite comfortably through Africa as it had been
for thousands of years before the white man came.
At Kikuyu Station we came to a halt. Kikuyu
Station ordinarily embarks about two passengers a
month, I suppose. Now it was utterly swamped
with business, for on it had descended all our safari
of thirty-nine men and three mules. Thirty of the
thirty-nine yelled and shrieked and got in the wrong
place, as usual. Cuninghame and the trainmen and
the station master and our responsible boys heaved
and tugged and directed, ordered, commanded. At
length the human element was loaded to its places
and locked in. Then the mules were to be urged up a
very narrow gangplank into a dangerous-looking car.
Quite sensibly they declined to take chances. Wepersuaded them. The process was quite simple.
Two of the men holding the ends at a safe distance
stretched a light strong cord across the beasts' hind
legs, and sawed it back and forth.
We clanged the doors shut, climbed aboard, and
the train at last steamed on. Now bits of forest
came across our way, deep, shaded, with trailing cur-
tain vines, and wide leaves big as table tops, and
high lush impenetrable undergrowth full of flashing
*After the fashion of the Canadian tump line.
256
OVER THE LIKIPIA ESCARPMENT
birds, fathomless shadows and Inquisitive monkeys.
Occasionally we emerged to the edge of a long oval
meadow, set in depressions among hills, like our
Sierra meadows. Indeed so like were these openings
to those in our own wooded mountains that we
always experienced a distinct shock of surprise as the
familiar woods parted to disclose a dark solemn
savage with flashing spear.
We stopped at various stations, and descended
and walked about in the gathering shadows of the
forest. It was getting cool. Many little things
attracted our attention, to remain In our memories
as isolated pictures. Thus I remember one grave
savage squatted by the track playing on a sort of
mandolin-shaped Instrument. It had two strings,
and he twanged these alternately, without the
slightest effort to change their pitch by stopping with
his fingers. He bent his head sidewlse, and listened
with the meticulous attention of a connoisseur.
We stopped at that place for fully ten minutes, but
not for a second did he leave off twanging his two
strings, nor did he even momentarily relax his at-
tention.
It was now near sundown. We had been climbing
steadily. The train shrieked twice, and unexpect-
edly slid out to the edge of the LIkipia Escarpment.
We looked down once more into the great Rift Valley.
257
AFRICAN CAMP FIRES
The Rift Valley is as though a strip of Africa —extending half the length of the continent— had in
time past sunk bodily some thousands of feet, leaving
a more or less sheer escarpment on either side, and
preserving intact its own variegated landscape in
the bottom. We were on the Likipia Escarpment.
We looked across to the Mau Escarpment, where
the country over which our train had been travelling
continued after its interruption by the valley. Andbelow us were mountains, streams, plains. Thewestering sun threw strong slants of light down and
across.
The engine shut off its power, and we slid silently
down the rather complicated grades and curves of
the descent. A noble forest threw its shadows
over us. Through the chance openings we caught
glimpses of the pale country far below. Across
high trestle bridges we rattled, and craned over to
see the rushing white water of the mountain torrents
a hundred feet down. The shriek of our engine
echoed and reechoed weirdly from the serried trunks
of trees and from the great cliffs that seemed to lift
themselves as we descended.
We debarked at Kijabe* well after dark. It is
situated on a ledge in the escarpment, is perhaps a
quarter mile wide, and includes nothing more elabo-
*Pronounce all the syllables.
258
OVER THE LIKIPIA ESCARPMENT
rate than the station, a row of Indian dukkas, and two
houses of South Africans set back toward the rise in
the cliffs. A mile or so away, and on a little higher
level, stand the extensive buildings of an American
Mission. It is, I believe educational as well as
sectarian, is situated in one of the most healthful
climates of East Africa, and is prosperous.
At the moment we saw none of these things. Wewere too busy getting men, mules, and equipment,
out of the train. Our lanterns flared in the great
wind that swept down the defile; and across the track
little fires flared too. Shortly we made the ac-
quaintance of Ulyate, the South Africander whofurnished us our ox teams and wagon; and of a lank,
drawling youth who was to be our "rider." The
latter was very anxious to get started, so we piled
aboard the great wagon all our stores and equipment
but those immediately necessary for the night.
Then we returned to the dak-bungalow for a very
belated supper. While eating this we discussed our
plans.
These were in essence very simple. Somewhere
south of the great Thirst of the Sotik was a river
called the Narossara. Back of the river were high
mountains, and down the river were benches drop-
ping off by thousands of feet to the barren country
of Lake Maghadi. Over some of this country ranged
259
AFRICAN CAMP FIRES
the greater kudu, easily the prize buck of East
Africa. We intended to try for a greater kudu.
People laughed at us. The beast is extremely
rare; it ranges over a wide area; it inhabits the thick-
est sort of cover in a sheer mountainous country; its
senses are wonderfully acute; and it is very wary. Aman might, once in a blue moon, get one by happen-
ing upon it accidentally; but deliberately to go after
it was sheer lunacy. So we were told. As a matter
of fact, we thought so ourselves, but greater kudu
was as good an excuse as another.
The most immediate of our physical difficulties
was the Thirst. Six miles from Kijabe we would
leave the Kedong River. After that was no more
water for two days and nights. During that time
we should be forced to travel and rest in alternation
day and night; with a great deal of travel and very
little rest. We should be able to carry for the men
a limited amount of water on the ox wagon; but the
cattle could not drink. It was a hard, anxious
grind. A day's journey beyond the first water after
the Thirst we should cross the Southern Guaso
Nyero River.* Then two days should land us at
the Narossara. There we must leave our ox wagon
and push on with our tiny safari. We planned to
relay back for patio from our different camps.
*An entirely different stream from that flowing north of Mt. Kenia.
260
OVER THE LIKIPIA ESCARPMENT
That was our whole plan. Our transport rider's
object In starting this night was to reach the Kedong
River, and there to outspan until our arrival next
day. The cattle would thus get a good feed and
rest. Then at four in the afternoon we would set
out to conquer the Thirst. After that it would be a
question of travelling to suit the oxen.
Next morning, when we arose, we found one of
the wagon Kikuyus awaiting us. His tale ran that
after going four miles, the oxen had been stampeded
by lions. In the mix-up the dusselboom had been
broken. He demanded a new dusselboom. I
looked as wise as though I knew just what that
meant; and told him, largely, to help himself.
Shortly he departed carrying what looked to be the
greater part of a forest tree.
We were in no hurry, so we did not try to get our
safari under way before eight o'clock. It consisted
of twenty nine porters, the gunbearers, three personal
boys, three syces, and the cook. Of this lot some
few stand out from the rest, and deserve particular
attention.
Of course I had my veterans, Memba Sasa and
Mohamet. There was also KongonI, gunbearer,
elsewhere described. The third gunbearer was
Mavrouki, a Wakamba. He was the personal gun-
bearer of a Mr. Twigg, who very courteously loaned
261
AFRICAN CAMP FIRES
him for this trip as possessing some knowledge of the
country. He was a small person, with stripes
about his eyes; dressed in a Scotch highland cap,
khaki breeches, and a shooting coat miles too big for
him. His soul was earnest, his courage great, his
training good, his intelligence none too brilliant.
Timothy, our cook, was pure Swahili. He was a thin,
elderly individual, with a wrinkled brow of care.
This represented a conscientious soul. He tried hard
to please, but he never could quite forget that he had
cooked for the Governor's safari. His air was always
one of silent disapproval of our modest outfit. So
well did he do, however, often under trying circum-
stances, that at the close of the expedition Billy
presented him with a very fancy knife. To her vast
astonishment he burst into violent sobs.
"Why, what is it?" she asked.
"Oh, memsahib," he wailed, "I wanted a watch!"
As personal boy Billy had a Masai named Leyeye.*
The members of this proud and aristocratic tribe
rarely condescend to work for the white man; but
when they do, they are very fine servants, for they
are highly intelligent. Leyeye was short and very,
very ugly. Perhaps this may partly explain his
leaving tribal life; for the Masai generally are over
six feet.
*Pionounce every syllable.
262
OVER THE LIKIPIA ESCARPMENT
Cuninghame's man was an educated coast Swahili
named Abba Ali. This individual was very smart.
He wore a neatly trimmed Vandyke beard, a flannel
boating hat, smart tailored khakis, and carried a rat-
tan cane. He was alert, quick, and intelligent. His
position was midway between that of personal boy
and headman.
Of the rank and file we began with twenty-nine.
Two changed their minds before we were fairly
started and departed in the night. There was no
time to get regular porters; but fortunately a Kikuyu
chief detailed two wild savages from his tribe to act
as carriers. These two children of nature drifted in
with pleasant smiles, and little else save knick-
knacks. From our supplies we gave them two thin
jerseys, reaching nearly to the knees. Next day they
appeared with broad tucks sewed around the middle!
They looked like "My mama didn't use wool soap."
We then gave it up, and left them free and untram-
melled.
They differed radically. One was past the first
enthusiasms and vanities of youth. He was small,
unobtrusive, unornamented. He had no possessions
save the jersey, the water bottle and the blanket weourselves supplied. The blanket he crossed bando-
lier fashion on one shoulder. It hung down behind
like a tasselled sash. His face was little and wizened
263
AFRICAN CAMP FIRES
and old. He was quiet and uncomplaining, and the
"easy mark" for all the rest. We had constantly
to be interfering to save him from imposition as to
too heavy loads, too many chores and the like.
Nearing the close of the long expedition, when our
loads were lighter and fewer, one day Cuninghame
spoke up.
"I'm going to give the old man a good time," said
he, "I doubt if he's ever had one before, or if he ever
will again. He's that sort of a meek damn fool."
So it was decreed that Kimau* should carry
nothing for the rest of the trip, was to do no more
work, was to have all he wanted to eat. It was
a treat to see him. He accepted these things without
surprise, without spoken thanks; just as he would
have accepted an increased supply of work and kicks.
Before his little fire he squatted all day, gazing
vacantly off into space, or gnawing on a piece of the
meat he always kept roasting on sticks. He spoke
to no one; he never smiled or displayed any obvious
signs of enjoyment; but from him radiated a feeling
of deep content.
His companion savage was a young blood, and
still affected by the vanities of life. His hair he
wore in short tight curls, resembling the rope hair of
*His official name was Lightfoot Queen of the Fairies because of his ballet-
like costume.
264
OVER THE LIKIPIA ESCARPMENT
a French poodle, liberally anointed with castor-oil
and coloured with red-paint clay. His body too
was turned to bronze by the same method; so that
he looked like a beautiful smooth metal statue come
to life. To set this quality off he wore glittering
collars, bracelets, anklets, and ear ornaments of
polished copper and brass. When he joined us his
sole costume was a negligent two-foot strip of cotton
cloth. After he had received his official jersey, he
carefully tied the cloth over his wonderful head; nor
as far as we knew did he again remove it until the end
of the expedition. All his movements were inexpres-
sibly graceful. They reminded one somehow of
Flaxman's drawings of the Greek gods. His face,
too, was good-natured and likable. A certain half
feminine, wild grace, combined with the queer effect
of his headgear, caused us to name him Daphne. At
home he was called Kingangui.
At first he carried his burden after the fashion of
savages — on the back; and kept to the rear of the
procession; and at evening consorted only with old
Lightfoot. As soon as opportunity offered he built
himself a marvellous iridescent ball of marabout
feathers. Each of these he split along the quill, so
that they curled and writhed in the wind. This pictu-
resque charm he suspended from a short pole in front
of his tent. Also, since he belonged to the Kikuyu
265
AFRICAN CAMP FIRES
tribe, he ate no game meat; but confined his diet
to cornmeal potio. We were much interested in
watching Daphne's gradual conversion from savage
ways to those of the regular porter. Within two
weeks he was carrying his load on his head or
shoulder, and trying to keep up near the head of the
safari. The charm of feathers disappeared shortly
after, I am sorry to say. He took his share of the
meat. Within two months Daphne was imitating
as closely as possible the manners and customs of his
safari mates. But he never really succeeded in look-
ing anything but the wild and graceful savage he was.
266
XXXIV
TO THE KEDONG
FIR four hours we descended the valley through
high thorn scrub, or the occasional grassy
openings. We were now in the floor of the Rift
Valley, and both along the escarpments and in the
floor of the great blue valley itself mountains were
all about us. Most of the large ones were evidently
craters; and everywhere were smaller kopjes or
buttes, that in their day had also served as blow
holes for subterranean fires.
At the end of this time we arrived at the place
where we were supposed to find the wagon. Nowagon was there.
The spot was in the middle of a level plain on
which grew very scattered bushes, a great deal like
the sparser mesquite growths of Arizona. Toward
the Likipia Escarpment, and about halfway to its
base, a line of trees marked the course of the Kedong
River. Beyond that, fairly against the mountain,
we made out a settler's house.
Leaving Billy and the safari, Cuninghame and I set
267
AFRICAN CAMP FIRES
out for this house. The distance was long, and we
had not made half of it before thunder clouds began
to gather. They came up thick and black behind the
escarpment, and rapidly spread over the entire heav-
ens. We found the wagon shortly, still mending its
dusselboom, or whatever the thing was. Leaving
instructions for it to proceed to a certain point on
the Kedong River, we started back for our safari.
It rained. In ten minutes the dusty plains, as
far as the eye could reach, were covered with water
two or three inches deep, from which the sparse
bunches of grasses grew like reeds in a great marshy
lake. We splashed along with the water over our
ankles. The channels made by the game trails
offered natural conduits, and wherever there was
the least grade they had become rushing brooks.
We found the safari very bedraggled. Billy had
made a mound of valuables atop which she perched,
her waterproof cape spread as wide as possible, a
good deal like a brooding hen. We set out for the
meeting point on the Kedong. In half an hour
we had there found a bit of higher ground and had
made camp.
As suddenly as they had gathered the storm clouds
broke away. The expiring sun sent across the
valley a flood of golden light, that gilded the rugged
old mountain of Suswa over the way.
268
TO THE KEDONG
"Directly on the other side of Suswa," Cun-
inghame told me, "there is a 'pan' of hard clay.
This rain will fill it; and we shall find water there.
We can take a night's rest, and set off" comfortably
in the morning."
So the rain that had soaked us so thoroughly was
a blessing after all. While we were cooking supper
the wagon passed us, its wheels and frame creaking,
its great whip cracking like a rifle, its men shrieking
at the imperturbable team of eighteen oxen. It
would travel until the oxen wanted to graze, or
sleep, or scratch an ear, or meditate on why is a
Kikuyu. Thereupon they would be outspanned and
allowed to do it, whatever it was, until they were
ready to go on again. Then they would go on.
These sequences might take place at any time of
the day or night, and for greater or lesser intervals
of time. That was distinctly up to the oxen; the
human beings had mighty little to say in the matter.
But transport riding, from the point of view of the
rank outsider, really deserves a chapter of its own.
269
XXXV
THE TRANSPORT RIDER
THE wagon is one evolved in South Africa, a
long, heavily constructed affair, with ingen-
ious braces and timbers so arranged as to furnish
the maximum clearance with the greatest facility
for substitution in case the necessity for repairs
might arise. The whole vehicle can be dismounted
and reassembled in a few hours; so that unfordable
streams or impossible bits of country can be crossed
piecemeal. Its enormous wheels are set wide apart.
The brake is worked by a crank at the rear; like a
reversal of the starting mechanism of a motor car.
Bolted to the frame on either side between the front
and rear wheels are capacious cupboards, and two
stout water kegs swing to and fro when the craft
is under way. The net carrying capacity of such a
wagon is from three to four thousand pounds.
This formidable vehicle in our own case was
drawn by a team of eighteen oxen. The biggest
brutes, the wheelers, were attached to a tongue;
all the others pulled on a long chain. The only
270
THE TRANSPORT RIDER
harness was the pronged yoke that fitted just for-
ward of the hump. Over rough country the wheelers
were banged and jerked about savagely by the
tongue; they did not seem to mind it, but exhibited
a certain amount of intelligence in manipulation.
To drive these oxen we had one white man, named
Brown, and two small Kikuyu savages. One of
these worked the brake crank in the rear; while the
other preceded the lead cattle. Brown exercised
general supervision, a long lashed whip, and Boer-
Dutch expletives and admonitions.
In transport riding, as this game is called, there
is required a great amount of especial skill, though
not necessarily a high degree of intelligence. Along
the flats all goes well enough; but once in the un-
believable rough country of a hill trek the situation
alters. A man must know cattle and their symp-
toms. It is no light feat to wake up eighteen
sluggish bovine minds to the necessity for effort, and
then to throw so much dynamic energy into the
situation that the whole eighteen will begin to pull
at once. That is the secret; unanimity. An ox is
the most easily discouraged working animal on earth.
If the first three couples begin to haul before the
others have aroused to their effort, they will not
succeed in budging the wagon an inch, but after a
moment's struggle will give up completely. By that
271
AFRICAN CAMP FIRES
time the leaders respond to the command and throw
themselves forward in the yoke. In vain. They
cannot pull the wagon and their wheel comrades too.
Therefore they give up. By this time, perhaps, the
lash has aroused the first lot to another effort. Andso they go, pulling and hauling against each other,
getting nowhere, until the end is an exhausted team,
a driver half insane, and a great necessity for un-
loading.
A good driver on the other hand, shrieks a few
premonitory Dutch words — and then! I suppose
inside those bovine heads the effect is somewhat that
of a violent electric explosion. At any rate it hits
them all at once; and all together, in response, they
surge against their yokes. The heavily laden wagon
creaks, groans, moves forward. The hurricane of
Dutch and the volleys of whip crackings rise to a
crescendo. We are off!
To perform just this little simple trick of getting
the thing started requires not only a peculiar skill
or gift, but also lungs of brass and a throat of iron.
A transport rider without a voice is as a tenor in
the same fix. He may— and does — get so hoarse
that it is a pain to hear him; but as long as he can
croak in good volume he is all right. Mere shouting
will not do. He must shriek, until to the sym-
pathetic bystander it seems that his throat must
272
THE TRANSPORT RIDER
split wide open. Furthermore, he must shriek the
proper things. It all sounds alike to every one but
transport riders and oxen; but as a matter of fact
it is Boer-Dutch, nicely assorted to suit different
occasions. It is incredible that oxen should dis-
tinguish; but, then, it is also incredible that trout
should distinguish the nice differences in artificial
flies.
After the start has been made successfully, the
craft must be kept under way. To an unbiased by-
stander the whole affair looks insane. The wagon
creaks and sways and groans and cries aloud as it
bumps over great boulders in the way; the leading
Kikuyu dances nimbly and shrills remarks at the
nearest cattle; the tail Kikuyu winds energetically
back and forth on his little handle, and tries to keep
his feet. And Brown! he is magnificent! His long
lash sends out a volley of rifle reports, down, up,
ahead, back; his cracked voice roars out an unending
stream of apparent gibberish. Back and forth along
the line of the team he skips nimbly, the sweat stream-
ing from his face. And the oxen plod along, unhast-
ing, unexcited, their eyes dreamy, chewing the end
of yesterday's philosophic reflection. The situation
conveys the general impression of a peevish little
stream breaking against great calm cliffs. All this
frantic excitement and expenditure of energy is so
273
AFRICAN CAMP FIRES
apparently purposeless and futile, the calm cattle
seem so aloof and superior to it all, so absolutely
unaffected by it. They are going slowly, to be sure,
their gait may be maddeningly deliberate, but evi-
dently they do not intend to be hurried. Why not
let them take their own speed?
But all this hullabaloo means something, after all.
It does its business, and the top of the boulder-
strewn hill is gained. Without it the whole concern
would have stopped; and then the wagon would have
had to be unloaded before a fresh start could have
been made. Results with cattle are not shown by
facial expression nor by increased speed, but simply
by continuance. They will plod up steep hills or
along the level at the same placid gait. Only in
the former case they require especial treatment.
In case the wagon gets stuck on a hill, as will
occasionally happen, so that all the oxen are dis-
couraged at once, we would see one of the Kikuyus
leading the team back and forth, back and forth,
on the side hill just ahead of the wagon. This is
to confuse their minds, cause them to forget their
failure, and thus to make another attempt.
At one stretch we had three days of real moun-
tains. N'gombe* Brown shrieked like a steam cal-
liope all the way through. He lasted the distance,
* N'gombe—oxen.
THE TRANSPORT RIDER
but had little campfire conversation even with his
beloved Kikuyus.
When the team was outspanned, which in the water-
less country of forced marches is likely to be almost
any time of the day or night, N'gombe Brown sought
a little rest. For this purpose he had a sort of bunk
that let down underneath the wagon. If it was
daytime, the cattle were allowed to graze under
supervision of one of the Kikuyus. If it was night
time they were tethered to the long chain, where they
lay In a somnolent double row. A lantern at the head
of the file and one at the wagon's tail were supposed
to discourage lions. In a bad lion country fires
were added to these defences.
N'gombe Brown thus worked hard all of varied
and long hours in strict intimacy with stupid and
exasperating beasts. After working hours he liked
to wander out to watch those same beasts grazing!
His mind was as full of cattle as that! Although we
offered him reading matter, he never seemed to care
for it, nor for long-continued conversation with
white people not of his trade. In fact the only
gleam of interest I could get out of him was by
commenting on the qualities or peculiarities of the
oxen. He had a small mouth organ on which he
occasionally performed, and would hold forth for
hours with his childlike Kikuyus. In the intelli-
275
AFRICAN CAMP FIRES
gence to follow ordinary directions he was an infant.
We had to iterate and reiterate in words of one
syllable our directions as to routes and meeting
points, and then he was quite as apt to go wrong as
right. Yet, I must repeat, he knew thoroughly all
the ins and outs of a very difficult trade, and under-
stood, as well, how to keep his cattle always fit and
in good condition. In fact he was a little hipped
on what the "dear rCgombes^^ should or should not
be called upon to do.
One incident will illustrate all this better than I
could explain it. When we reached the Narossara
River we left the wagon and pushed on afoot. Wewere to be gone an indefinite time; and we left
N'gombe Brown and his outfit very well fixed.
Along the Narossara ran a pleasant shady strip of
high jungle; the country about was clear and open;
but most important of all, a white man of education
and personal charm occupied a trading boma, or
enclosure, near at hand. An accident changed our
plans and brought us back unexpectedly at the end
of a few weeks. We found that N'gombe Brown
had trekked back a long day's journey, and was
encamped alone at the end of a spur of mountains.
We sent native runners after him. He explained
his change of base by saying that the cattle feed was
a little better at his new camp! Mind you this; at
276
THE TRANSPORT RIDER
the Narossara the feed was plenty good enough, the
oxen were doing no work, there was companionship,
books, papers, and even a phonograph to while away
the long weeks until our return. N'gombe Brown
quite cheerfully deserted all this, to live in solitude
where he imagined the feed to be microscopically
better!
277
XXXVI
ACROSS THE THIRST
WE were off a bright, clear day after the rains.
Suswa hung grayish pink against the bluest
of skies. Our way slanted across the Rift Valley
to her base; turned the corner, and continued on
the other side of the great peak until we had reached
the rainwater "pan" on her farther side. It was a
long march.
The plains were very wide and roomy. Here and
there on them rose many small cones and craters,
lava flows and other varied evidences of recent
volcanic activity. Geologically recent, I mean.
The grasses of the flowing plains were very brown,
and the molehill craters very dark; the larger craters
blasted and austere; the higher escarpment in the
background blue with a solemn distance. The sizes
of things were not originally fitted out for little
tiny people like human beings. We walked hours
to reach landmarks apparently only a few miles
away.
In this manner we plodded along industriously un-
278
ACROSS THE THIRST
til noon, by which time we had nearly reached the
shoulder of Suswa, around which we had to double.
The sun was strong, and the men not yet hardened
to the work. We had many stragglers. After lunch
Memba Sasa and I strolled along on a route flanking
that of the safari looking for the first of our meat
supply. Within a short time I had killed a Thomp-son's gazelle. Some solemn giraffes looked on at
the performance, and then moved off liked mechan-
ical toys.
The day lengthened. We were in the midst of
wonderful scenery. Our objection grew to be that
it took so long to put any of it behind us. Insensi-
bly, however, we made progress. Suddenly, as it
seemed, we found ourselves looking at the other
side of Suswa, and various brand-new little craters
had moved up to take the places of our old friends.
At last, about half-past four, we topped the swell
of one of the numerous and interminable land
billows that undulate across all plains countries here,
and saw, a few miles away, the wagon outspanned.
We reached it about sunset, to be greeted by the
welcome news that there was indeed water in the
pan.
We unsaddled just before dark, and I immediately
started toward the game herds, many of which were
grazing a half mile away. The gazelle would supply
279
AFRICAN CAMP FIRES
our own larder, but meat for hard-worked men was
very desirable. I shot a hartebeeste, made the
prearranged signal for men to carry meat, and re-
turned to camp.
Even yet the men were not all in. We took lan-
terns and returned along the road; for the long
marches under a desert sun are no joke. At last
we had accounted for all but two. These we had
to abandon. Next day we found their loads, but
never laid eyes on them again. Thus early our
twenty-nine became twenty-seven.
About nine o'clock, about as we were turning, in a
number of lions began to roar. Usually a lion roars
once or twice by way of satisfaction after leaving
a kill. These, however, were engaged in driving
game, and hence trying to make as much noise as
possible. We distinguished plainly seven individuals,
perhaps more. The air trembled with the sound as
to the deepest tones of a big organ, only the organ
is near and enclosed, while these vibrations were
in the open air and remote. For a few moments
the great salvos would boom across the veldt, roll
after roll of thunder; then would ensue a momentary
dead silence; then a single voice would open, to be
joined immediately by the others.
We awoke next day to an unexpected cold drizzle.
This was a bit uncomfortable, from one point of
280
ACROSS THE THIRST
view, and most unusual, but it robbed the Thirst of
its terrors. We were enabled to proceed leisurely,
and to get a good sleep near water every night.
The wagon had, as usual, pulled out some time dur-
ing the night.
Our way led over a succession of low rolling
ridges each higher that its predecessor. Game herds
fed in the shallow valleys between. At about ten
o'clock we came to the foot of the Mau Escarpment;
and also to the unexpected sight of the wagon
outspanned. N'gombe Brown explained to us that
the oxen had refused to proceed farther in face of
a number of lions that came around to sniff at them.
Then the rain had come on, and he had been un-
willing to attempt the Mau while the footing was
slippery. This sounded reasonable; in fact it was
still reasonable. The grass was here fairly neck
high, and we found a rain-filled water hole. There-
fore we decided to make camp. Cuninghame and I
wandered out in search of game. We tramped a great
deal of bold, rugged country, both in cafion bottoms
and along the open ridges, but found only a rhinoce-
ros, one bush buck and a dozen hartebeeste. African
game, as a general rule, avoids a country where the
grass grows very high. We enjoyed, however, some
bold and wonderful mountain scenery; and obtained
glimpses through the flying murk of the vast plains
281
AFRICAN CAMP FIRES
at the base of Suswa. On a precipitous canon
cliff we found a hanging garden of cactus and of
looped cactuslike vines that was a marvel to behold.
We ran across the hartebeeste on our way home.
Our men were already out of meat: the hartebeeste
of yesterday had disappeared. These porters are
a good deal like the old-fashioned Michigan lumber-
jacks — they take a good deal of feeding for the
first few days. When we came upon the little herd
in the neck-high grass, I took a shot. At the report
the animal went down flat. We wandered over
slowly. Memba Sasa whetted his knife and walked
up. Thereupon Mr. Hartebeeste jumped to his
feet; flirted his tail gayly, and departed. We fol-
lowed him a mile or so, but he got stronger and
gayer every moment; until at last he frisked out of
the landscape quite strong and hearty. In all myAfrican experience I lost only six animals hit by
bullets, as I took infinite pains and any amount of
time to hunt down wounded beasts. This animal
was, I think, "creased" by too high a shot. Cer-
tainly he was not much injured; and certainly he
got a big shock to start with.
The little herd had gone on. I got down and
crawled on hands and knees in the thick grass. It
was slow work; and I had to travel by landmarks.
When I finally reckoned I had about reached the
282
ACROSS THE THIRST
proper place, I stood up suddenly, my rifle at ready.
So dense was the cover and so still the air that I
had actually crawled right into the middle of the
band! While we were cutting up the meat the
sun broke through strongly.
Therefore the wagon started on up the Mau at
six o'clock. Twelve hours later we followed. Thefine drizzle had set in again. We were very glad
the wagon had taken advantage of the brief dry
time.
From the top of the sheer rise we looked back for
the last time over the wonderful panorama of the
Rift Valley. Before us were wide rounded hills
covered with a scattered small growth that in general
appearance resembled scrub oak. It sloped away
gently until it was lost in mists. Later, when these
cleared, we saw distant blue mountains across a
tremendous shallow basin. We were nearly on a
level with the summit of Suswa itself, nor did we
again drop much below that altitude. After five
or six miles we overtook the wagon outspanned.
The projected all-night journey had again been frus-
trated by the lions. These beasts had proved so
bold and menacing that finally the team had been
forced to stop in sheer self-defence. However, the
day was cool and overcast, so nothing was lost.
After topping the Mau we saw a few gazelle,
283
AFRICAN CAMP FIRES
zebra, and hartebeeste; but soon plunged into a
bush country quite destitute of game. We were
paralleling the highest ridge of the escarpment;
and so alternated between the crossing of cafions
and the travelling along broad ridges between them.
In lack of other amusement for a long time I rode
with the wagon. The country was very rough and
rocky. Everybody was excited to the point of
frenzy, except the wagon. It had a certain Dutch
stolidity in its manner of calmly and bumplly sur-
mounting such portions of the landscape as happened
in its way.
After a very long tiresome march we camped
above a little stream. Barring our lucky rain this
would have been the first water since leaving the
Kedong River. Here were hundreds of big blue
pigeons swooping in to their evening drink.
For two days more we repeated this sort of travel;
but always with good camps at fair-sized streams.
Gradually we slanted away from the main ridge;
though we still continued cross-cutting the swells
and ravines thrown off its flanks. Only the ravines
hour by hour became shallower, and the swells lower
and broader. On their tops the scrub sometimes
gave way to openings of short-grass. On these fed
a few gazelle of both sorts, and an occasional zebra
or so. We saw also four topi, a beast about the
284
ACROSS THE THIRST
size of our caribou, built on the general specifications
of a hartebeeste, but with the most beautiful iri-
descent plum-coloured coats. This quartette was
very wild. I made three separate stalks on them,
but the best I could do was 360 paces, at which
range I missed.
Finally we surmounted the last low swell to look
down a wide and sloping plain to the depression in
which flowed the principal river of these parts, the
Southern Guaso Nyero. Beyond it stretched the
immense oceanlike plains of the Loieta, from which
here and there rose isolated hills, very distant, like
lonseome ships at sea. A little to the left, also very
distant, we could make out an unbroken blue range
of mountains. These were our ultimate destination.
28s
XXXVII
THE SOUTHERN GUASO NYERO
THE southern Guaso Nyero, unlike its northern
namesake, is a sluggish muddy stream, rather
small, flowing between abrupt clay banks. Farther
down it drops into great caiions and eroded abysses,
and acquires a certain grandeur. But here, at the
ford of Agate's Drift, it is decidedly unimpressive.
Scant greenery ornaments its banks. In fact, at
most places they run hard and baked to a sheer
drop-off of ten or fifteen feet. Scattered mimosa
trees and aloes mark its course. The earth for a
mile or so is trampled by thousands of Masai cattle
that at certain seasons pass through the funnel of
this, the only ford for miles Apparently insignificant,
it is given to sudden, tremendous rises. These
originate in the rainfalls of the upper Mau Escarp-
ment, many miles away. It behooves the safari to
cross promptly if it can; and to camp always on the
farther bank.
This we did, pitching our tents in a little opening,
between clumps of pretty flowering aloes and the
286
THE SOUTHERN GUASO NYERO
mimosas. Here, as everywhere In this country until
we had passed the barrier of the Narossara moun-
tains, the common houseflies were a plague. They
follow the Masai cattle. I can give you no better
idea of their numbers than to tell you two isolated
facts; I killed twenty-one at one blow; and in the
morning before sunrise the apex of our tent held a
solid black mass of the creatures running the length
of the ridge pole, and from half an inch to two
inches deep! Every pack was black with them on
the march; and the wagon carried its millions.
When the shadow of a branch would cross that
slowly lumbering vehicle, the swarm would rise and
bumble around distractedly for a moment before
settling down again. They fairly made a nimbus
of darkness.
After we had made camp we saw a number of
Masai warriors hovering about the opposite bank,
but they did not venture across. Some of their
women did, however, and came cheerfully into camp.
These most interesting people are worth more than
a casual word, so I shall reserve my observations on
them until a later chapter. One of our porters, a
big Baganda named Sabakaki, was suffering severely
from pains in the chest that subsequently developed
into pleurisy. From the Masai women we tried to
buy some of the milk they carried in gourds. At
287
AFRICAN CAMP FIRES
first they seemed not averse, but as soon as they
realized the milk was not for our own consumption,
they turned their backs on poor Sabakaki and re-
fused to have anything more to do with us.
These Masai are very difficult to trade with.
Their only willing barter is done in sheep. These
they seem to consider legitimate objects of commerce.
A short distance from our camp stood three white-
washed round houses with thatched, conical roofs,
property of a trader named Agate. He was away
at the time of our visit.
After an early morning but vain attempt to get
Billy a shot at a lion* we set out for our distant blue
mountains. The day was a journey over plains of
great variegation. At times they were covered with
thin scrub; at others with small groves; or again
they were open and grassy. Always they undulated
gently, so from their tops one never saw as far as
he thought he was going to see. As landmark we
steered by a good-sized butte named Donya Rasha.
Memba Sasa and I marched ahead on foot. In
this thin scrub we got glimpses of many beasts. At
one time we were within fifty yards of a band of
magnificent eland. By fleeting glimpses we saw also
many wildebeeste and zebra, with occasionally one
of the smaller grass antelope. Finally, in an open
*See "The Land of Footprints."
288
THE SOUTHERN GUASO NYERO
glade we caught sight of something tawny showing
in the middle of a bush. It was too high off the
ground to be a buck. We sneaked nearer. At
fifty yards we came to a halt, still puzzled. Judging
by its height and colour, it should be a lion, but
try as we would, we could not make out what part
of his anatomy was thus visible. At last I made
up my mind to give him a shot from the Springfield,
with the .405 handy. At the shot the tawny patch
heaved and lay still. We manoeuvred cautiously,
and found we had killed stone dead not a lion, but
a Bohur reed buck lying atop an anthill concealed
in the middle of the bush. This accounted for its
height above the ground. As it happened, I very
much wanted one of these animals as a specimen;
so everybody was satisfied.
Shortly after, attracted by a great concourse of
carrion birds, both on trees and in the air, we pene-
trated a thicket to come upon a full-grown girafi"e
killed by lions. The claw marks and other indica-
tions were indubitable. The carcass had been
partly eaten; but was rapidly vanishing under the
attacks of the birds.
Just before noon we passed Donya Rasha and
emerged on the open plains. Here I caught sight
of a Roberts' gazelle, a new species to me, and
started alone in pursuit. They, as usual, trotted
289
AFRICAN CAMP FIRES
over the nearest rise; so with due precautions I
followed after. At the top of that rise I lay still
in astonishment. Before me marched solemnly an
unbroken single file of game, reaching literally to
my limit of vision in both directions. They came
over the land swell a mile to my left, and they were
disappearing over another land swell a mile and a
half to my right. It was rigidly single file, except
for the young; the nose of one beast fairly touching
the tail of the one ahead, and it plodded along at
a businesslike walk. There were but three species
represented, the gnu, the zebra, and the hartebeeste.
I did not see the head of the procession, for it had
gone from sight before I arrived; nor did I ever see
the tail of it either, for the safari appearing inop-
portunely broke its continuance. But I saw two
miles and a half, solid, of big game. It was a great
and formal trek, probably to new pastures.
Then I turned my attention to the Roberts' gazelle,
and my good luck downed a specimen at 273 yards.
This with the Bohur reed buck, made the second
new species for the day. Our luck was not yet over,
however. We had proceeded but a few miles when
Kongoni discovered a herd of topi. The safari im-
mediately lay down, while I went ahead. There
was little cover, and I had a very hard time to get
within range, especially as a dozen zebras kept
290
THE SOUTHERN GUASO NYERO
grazing across the line of my stalks. The topi
themselves were very uneasy, crossing and recrossing
and looking doubtfully in my direction. I had a
number of chances at small bucks, but refused them
in my desire to get a shot at the big leader of the
herd. Finally he separated from the rest and faced
in my direction at just z68 yards. At the shot he
fell dead.
For the first time we had an opportunity to
admire the wonderful pelt. It is beautiful in quality,
plum colour, with iridescent lights and wavy "water
marks" changing to pearl colour on the four quarters,
with black legs. We were both struck with the
gorgeousness of a topi motor-rug made of three
skins, with these pearl spots as accents in the corners.
To our ambitions and hopes we added more topi.
Our journey to the Narossara River lasted three
days in all. We gained an outlying spur of the blue
mountains, and skirted their base. The usual varied
foothill country led us through defiles, over ridges,
and by charming groves. We began to see Masai
cattle in great herds. The gentle humpbacked
beasts were held in close formation by herders afoot,
tall, lithe young savages with spears. In the distance
and through the heat haze the beasts shimmered
strangely, their glossy reds and whites and blacks
blending together. In this country of wide ex-
291
AFRICAN CAMP FIRES
panses and clear air we could thus often make out
a very far-off herd simply as a speck of rich colour
against the boundless rolling plains.
Here we saw a good variety of game. Zebras of
course, and hartebeeste; the Robert's gazelle, a few
topi, a good many of the gnu or wildebeeste dis-
covered by and named after Roosevelt; a few giraffes,
klipspringer on the rocky buttes, cheetah, and the
usual jackals, hyenas, etc. I killed one very old
zebra. So ancient was he that his teeth had worn
down to the level of the gums, which seemed fairly
on the point of closing over. Nevertheless he was
still fat and sleek. He could not much longer have
continued to crop the grass. Such extreme age in
wild animals is, in Africa at least, most remarkable;
for generally they meet violent deaths while still
in their prime.
About three o'clock of the third afternoon we came
in sight of a long line of forest trees running down
parallel with the nearest mountain ranges. These
marked the course of the Narossara; and by four
o'clock we were descending the last slope.
292
XXXVIII
THE LOWER BENCHES
THE Narossara is really only about creek size,
but as it flows the year around it merits the
title of river. It rises in the junction of a long
spur with the main ranges, cuts straight across a
wide inward bend of the mountains, joins them again,
plunges down a deep and tremendous canon to
the level of a second bench below great cliffs, mean-
ders peacefully in flowery meadows and delightful
glades for some miles, and then once more, and,
most unexpectedly, drops eighteen hundred feet by
waterfall and precipitous cascade to join the Southern
Guaso Nyero. The country around this junction
is some of the roughest I saw in Africa.
We camped at the spot where the river ran at
about its maximum distance from the mountains.
Our tents were pitched beneath the shade of tall and
refreshing trees.
A number of Masai women visited us, laughing
and joking with Billy in their quizzically humorous
fashion. About as we were sitting down at table
293
AFRICAN CAMP FIRES
an Englishman wandered out of the greenery and
approached. He was a small man, with a tremen-
dous red beard; wore loose garments and tennis shoes;
and strolled up, his hands in his pockets and smok-
ing a cigarette. This was V., a man of whom wehad heard. A member of a historical family, officer
in a crack English regiment, he had resigned every-
thing to come into this wild country. Here he had
built a "boma," or enclosed compound, and engaged
himself in acquiring Masai sheep in exchange for
beads, wire, and cloth. Obviously the profits of
such transactions could not be the temptation. Heliked the life, and he liked his position of influence
with these proud and savage people. Strangely
enough, he cared little for the sporting possibilities
of the country, though of course he did a little
occasional shooting; but was quite content with his
trading, his growing knowledge of and intimacy with
the Masai, and his occasional tremendous journeys.
To the casual and infrequent stranger his attitude
was reported most uncertain.
We invited him to tea, which he accepted, and we
fell into conversation. He and Cuninghame were al-
ready old acquaintances. The man, I found, was shy
about talking of the things that interested him; but as
they most decidedly interested us also we managed
to convey an impression of our sincerity. There-
294
THE LOWER BENCHES
after he was most friendly. His helpfulness, kind-
ness, and courtesy could not have been bettered.
He lent us his own boy as guide down through the
canons of the Narossara to the lower benches, where
we hoped to find kudu; he offered store room to
such of our supplies as we intended holding in
reserve; he sent us sheep and eggs as a welcome
variation of our game diet; and in addition he gave
us Masai implements and ornaments we could not
possibly have acquired in any other way. It is
impossible to buy the personal belongings of this
proud and independent people at any price. The
price of a spear ordinarily runs about two rupees'
worth, when one trades with any other tribe. I
know of a case where a Masai was offered fifty
rupees for his weapon, but refused scornfully. V.
acquired these things through friendship; and after
we had gained his, he was most generous with them.
Thus he presented us with a thing almost impossible
to get and seen rarely outside of museums — the
Masai war bonnet made of the mane of a lion. It
is in shape and appearance, though not in colour,
almost exactly like the grenadier's shako of the last
century. In addition to this priceless trophy V.
also gave us samples of the cattle bells, both wooden
and metal, ivory ear ornaments, bead bracelets,
steel collars, circumcision knives, sword belts, and
295
AFRICAN CAMP FIRES
other affairs of like value. But I think that the
apogee of his kindliness was reached when muchlater he heard from the native tribes that we were
engaged in penetrating the defiles of the higher
mountains. Then he sent after us a swift Masai
runner bearing to us a bottle of whiskey and a mes-
sage to the effect that V. was afraid we would find
it very cold up there! Think of what that meant;
turn it well over in your mind, with all the circum-
stances of distance from supplies, difficulty of trans-
portation and all! We none of us used whiskey in
the tropics, so we later returned it with suitable
explanation and thanks as being too good to waste.
Next morning, under guidance of our friend's boy,
we set out for the lower benches, leaving N'gombe
Brown and his outfit to camp indefinitely until we
needed him for the return journey.
The whole lay of the land hereabout is, roughly
speaking, in a series of shelves. Back of us were the
high mountains — the Fourth Bench; we had been
travelling on the plateau of the Loieta — the Third
Bench; now we were to penetrate some apparently
low hills down an unexpected thousand feet to the
Second Bench. This was smaller; perhaps only five
miles at its widest. Its outer rim consisted also of
low hills concealing a drop of precipitous cliffs.
There were no passes nor canons here— the streams
296
THE LOWER BENCHES
dropped over in waterfalls — and precarious game
trails offered the only chance for descent. The
First Bench was a mere ledge, a mile or so wide.
From it one looked down into the deep gorge of the
Southern Guaso Nyero, and across to a tangle of
eroded mountains and malpais that filled the eye.
Only away in an incredible distance were other blue
mountains that marked the farther side of the great
Rift Valley.
Our present task was to drop from the Third
Bench to the Second. For some distance we fol-
lowed the Narossara; then, when it began to drop
into its tremendous gorge, we continued along the
side hills above it until by means of various "hogs'
backs" and tributary cafions we were able to regain
its level far below. The going was rough and stony,
and hard on the porters; but the scenery was very
wild and fine. We met the river bottom again in
the pleasantest oval meadow with fine big trees.
The mountains quite surrounded us, towering im-
minent above our heads. Ahead of us the stream
broke through between portals that rose the full
height of the ranges. We followed it, and found
ourselves on the Second Bench.
Here was grass, high grass in which the boys were
almost lost to sight. Behind us the ramparts rose
sheer and high; and over across the way were some
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AFRICAN CAMP FIRES
low fifty-foot cliffs that marked a plateau land.
Between the plateau and the ranges from which wehad descended was a sort of slight flat valley through
which meandered the forest trees that marked the
stream.
We turned to the right and marched an hour.
The river gradually approached the plateau, so
leaving between it and the ramparts a considerable
plain, and some low foothills. These latter were
reported to be one of the feeding grounds of the
greater kudu.
We made a most delightful camp at the edge of
great trees by the stream. The water flowed at the
bottom of a little ravine, precipitous in most places;
but with gently sloping banks at the spot we had
chosen. It flowed rapidly over clean gravel, with
a hurrying, tinkling sound. A broad gravel beach
was spread on the hither side of it, like a spacious
secret room in the jungle. Here too was a little
slope on which to sit, with the thicket all about,
the clean, swift little stream below, the high
forest arches above, and the inquisitive smaller
creatures hovering near. Others had been here
before us, the wild things, taking advantage of the
easy descent to drinking water— eland, buffalo,
leopard, and small bucks. The air was almost cloy-
ingly sweet with a perfume like sage-brush honey.
298
THE LOWER BENCHES
Our first task was to set our boys to work clearing
a space; the grass was so high and rank that mere
trampling had little effect on it. The Baganda,
Sabakaki, we had been compelled to leave with the
ox-team. So our twenty-seven had become twenty-
six.
Next morning Cuninghame and I started out very
early with one gunbearer. The direction of the wind
compelled us to a two hours' walk before we could be-
gin to hunt. The high grass was soaked with a very
heavy dew, and shortly we were as wet as though
we had fallen into the river. A number of horn-
bills and parrots followed us for some distance, but
soon left us in peace. We saw the Roberts' gazelle
and some hartebeeste.
When we had gained a point of vantage, we turned
back and began to work slowly along the base of
the mountains. We kept on a general level a hun-
dred feet or so up their slope, just high enough to
give us a point of overlook for anything that might
stir either in the flat plateau foothills or the plains.
We also kept a sharp lookout for signs.
We had proceeded in this manner for an hour
when in an opening between two bushes below us,
and perhaps five hundred yards away we saw a
leopard standing like a statue, head up, a most
beautiful spectacle. While we watched her through
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AFRICAN CAMP FIRES
the glasses, she suddenly dropped flat out of sight.
The cause we discovered to be three hartebeeste
strolling sociably along, stopping occasionally to
snatch a mouthful; but headed always in the direc-
tion of the bushes behind which lay the great cat.
Much interested, we watched them. They dis-
appeared behind the screen. A sudden flash marked
the leopard's spring. Two badly demoralized harte-
beeste stampeded out into the open and away; two
only. The kill had been made.
We had but the one rifle with us, for we were
supposed to be out after kudu only, and were
travelling as light as possible. No doubt the Spring-
field would kill a leopard, if the bullet landed in the
right place. We discussed the matter. It ended,
of course, in our sneaking down there; I with the
Springfield, and Cuninghame with his knife un-
sheathed. Our precautions and trepidations were
wasted. The leopard had carried the hartebeeste
bodily some distance, had thrust it under a bush, and
had departed. Cuninghame surmised it would return
toward evening.
Therefore we continued after kudu. We found
old signs, proving that the beasts visited this country,
but nothing fresh. We saw, however, the first sing-
sing; some impalla, some klipspringer, and Chan-
ler's reed buck.
300
THE LOWER BENCHES
At evening we made a crafty sneak atop the mesa-
like foothills to a point overlooking the leopard's
kill. We lay here looking the place over inch by
inch through our glasses, when an ejaculation of
disgust from Kongoni called our attention. There
at another spot that confounded beast sat like a
house cat watching us cynically. Either we had
come too soon, or she had heard us and retired to
what she considered a safe distance. There was of
course no chance of getting nearer; so I sat down,
for a steadier hold, and tried her anyway. At the
shot she leaped high in the air, rolled over once,
then recovered her feet and streaked off at full speed.
Just before disappearing over a slight rise, she
stopped to look back. I tried her again. We con-
cluded this shot a miss, as the distance and light
were such that only sheer luck could have landed
the bullet. However, that luck was with us. Later
developments showed that both shots had hit.
One cut a foreleg, but without breaking a bone, and
the other had hit the paunch. One was at 380
paces and the other at 490.
We found blood on the trail; and followed it a
hundred yards and over a small ridge to a wide
patch of high grass. It was now dark; the grass
was very high; and the animal probably desperate.
The situation did not look good to us, badly armed
301
AFRICAN CAMP FIRES
as we were. So we returned to camp, resolved to
take up the trail again in the morning.
Every man in camp turned out next day to help
beat the grass. Cuninghame with the .405, stayed to
direct and protect the men; while I, with the Spring-
field, sat down at the head of the ravine. Soon I could
hear the shrieks, rattles, shouts, and whistles of the
line of men as they beat through the grass. Small
grass bucks and hares bounded past me; birds came
whirring by. I sat on a little anthill spying as hard
as I could in all directions. Suddenly the beaters
fell to dead silence. Guessing this as a signal to
me that the beast had been seen, I ran to climb a
higher anthill to the left. From there I discerned
the animal plainly, sneaking along belly to earth,
exactly in the manner of a cat after a sparrow. It
was not a woods-leopard; but the plains-leopard, or
cheetah, supposed to be a comparatively harmless
beast.
At my shot she gave one spring forward and
rolled over into the grass. The nearest porters
yelled, and rushed in. I ran too, as fast as I could,
but was not able to make myself heard above the
row. An instant later the beast came to its feet
with a savage growl and charged the nearest of the
men. She was crippled, and could not move as
quickly as usual, but could hobble along faster than
302
THE LOWER BENCHES
her intended victim could run. This was a tall and
very conceited Kavirondo. He fled; but ran around
in circles, in and out among his excited companions.
The cheetah followed him, and him only, with most
single-minded purpose.
I dared not shoot while men were in the line of
fire even on the other side of the cheetah, for I knew
the high-power bullet would at that range go right
on through; and I fairly split my throat trying to
clear the way. It seemed five minutes, though it
was probably only as many seconds, before I got
my chance. It was high time. The cheetah had
reared to strike the man down.* My shot bowled
her over. She jumped to her feet again, made
another dash at thoroughly scared Kavirondo, and
I killed her just at his coattails.
The cheetahs ordinarily are supposed to be cow-
ards, although their size and power are equal to
that of other leopards. Nobody is afraid of them.
Yet this particular animal charged with all the
ferocity and determination of the lion; and would
certainly have killed or badly mauled my man.t
To be sure it had been wounded; and had had all
night to think about it.
*This is an interesting fact— that she reared to strike instead of springing,
tit must be remembered that this beast had the evening before killed a
3SO-pound hartebeeste with ease.
303
AFRICAN CAMP FIRES
In the relief from the tension we all burst into
shrieks of laughter; all except the near-victim of
the scrimmage, who managed only a sickly smile.
Our mirth was short. Out from a thicket over a
hundred yards away walked one of the men who
had been in no way involved in the fight, calmly
announcing that he had been shot. We were skep-
tical, but he turned his back and showed us the
bullet hole at the lower edge of the ribs. One of
my bullets, after passing through the cheetah, had
ricocheted and picked this poor fellow out from the
whole of an empty landscape. And this after I had
delayed my rescue fairly to the point of danger in
order to avoid all chance of hurting some one!
We had no means of telling how deeply the bullet
had penetrated; so we reassured the man, and de-
tailed two men to assist him back to camp by easy
stages. He did not seem to be suffering much pain,
and he had lost little strength.
At camp, however, we found that the wound was
deep. Cuninghame generously offered to make a
forced march in order to get the boy out to a hos-
pital. By hitting directly across the rough country
below the benches it was possible to shorten the
journey somewhat, provided V. could persuade the
Masai to furnish a guide. The country was a desert,
and the water scarce. We lined up our remaining
304
THE LOWER BENCHES
twenty-five men and selected the twelve best and
strongest. These we offered a month and a half's
extra wages for the trip. We then made a hammockout of one of the ground cloths, and the same after-
noon Cuninghame started. I sent with him four of
my own men as far as the ox-wagon for the purpose
of bringing back more potio. They returned the
next afternoon, bringing also a report from Cuning-
hame that all was well so far, and that he had seen
a lion. He made the desert trip without other casu-
alty than the loss of his riding mule; and landed the
wounded man in the hospital all right. In spite of
Cuninghame's expert care on the journey out, and
the best of treatment later, the boy, to my great
distress, died eleven days after reaching the hospital.
Cuninghame was gone just two weeks.
In the meantime I sent out my best trackers in
all directions to look for kudu signs, conceiving this
the best method of covering the country rapidly.
In this manner I shortly determined that chances
were small here; and made up my mind to move
down to the edge of the bench where the Narossara
makes its plunge. Before doing so, however, I
hunted for and killed a very large eland bull reported
by Mavrouki. This beast was not only one of the
largest I ever saw, but was in especially fine coat.
He stood five feet and six inches high at the shoulder;
30s
AFRICAN CAMP FIRES
was nine feet eight inches long, without the tail;
and would weigh twenty-iive hundred pounds. The
men were delighted with this acquisition. I now had
thirteen porters, the three gunbearers, the cook, and
the two boys. They surrounded each tiny fire with
switches full of roasting meat; they cut off great
hunks for a stew; they made quantities of biltong,
or jerky.
Next day I left Kongoni and one porter at the old
camp, loaded my men with what they could carry,
and started out. We marched a little over two
hours; then found ourselves beneath a lone mimosa
tree about a quarter mile from the edge of the bench.
At this point the stream drops into a little cafion
preparatory to its plunge; and the plateau rises
ever so gently to tremendous cliffs. I immediately
dispatched the porters back for another load. Afine sing-sing lured me across the river. I did not
get the sing sing; but had a good fight with two
lions, as narrated elsewhere.*
In this spot we camped a number of days; did a
heap of hard climbing and looking; killed another
lion out of a band of eight ;f thoroughly determined
that we had come at the wrong time for kudu; and
decided on another move.
*"The Land of Footprints."
t"The Land of Footprints."
306
THE LOWER BENCHES
This time our journey lasted five hours, so that
our relaying consumed three days. We broke back
through the ramparts, by means of another pass we
had discovered when looking for kudu, to the Third
Bench again. Here we camped in the valley of
Lengetoto.
This valley is one of tne most beautiful and
secluded in this part of Africa. It is shaped like an
ellipse, five or six miles long by about three miles
wide; and is completely surrounded by mountains.
The ramparts of the western side— those forming
the walls of the Fourth Bench — rise in sheer rock
cliffs, forest crowned. To the east, from which
direction we had just come, were high, rounded
mountains. At sunrise they cut clear in an outline
of milky slate against the sky.
The floor of this ellipse was surfaced in gentle
undulations, like the low swells of a summer sea.
Between each swell a singing, clear-watered brook
leaped and dashed or loitered through its jungle.
Into the mountains ran broad upward flung valleys
of green grass; and groves of great forest trees
marched down canons and out a short distance into
the plains. Everything was fresh and green and
cool. We needed blankets at night, and each morn-
ing the dew was cool and sparkling, and the sky very
blue. Underneath the forest trees of the stream
307
AFRICAN CAMP FIRES
beds, and the canon, were leafy rooms as small as
a closet, or great cathedral aisles. And in the short
brush dwelt rhinoceros and impalla; in the jungles
were buffalo and elephant; on the plains we saw
giraffe, hartebeeste, zebra, duiker; and in the bases
of the hills we heard at evening and early morning
the roaring of lions.
In this charming spot we lingered eight days;
Memba Sasa and I spent most of our time trying
to get one of the jungle-dwelling buffalo without his
getting us. In this we were finally successful.*
Then, as it was about time for Cuninghame to return,
we moved back to V.'s boma on the Narossara; relay-
ing, as usual, the carrying of our effects. At this time
I had had to lay off three more men on account of
various sorts of illness, so was still more cramped
for transportation facilities. As we were breaking
camp a lioness leaped to her feet from where she had
been lying under a bush. So near was it to camp
that I had not my rifle ready. She must have been
lying there within two hundred yards of our tents,
watching all our activities.
We drew in to V.'s boma a little after two o'clock.
The man in charge of our tent did not put in an
appearance until next day. Fortunately V. had an
extra tent, which he lent us. We camped near the
*" The Land of Footprints."
308
THE LOWER BENCHES
river, just outside the edge of the river forest. The
big trees sent their branches out over us very far
above, while a winding path led us to the banks
of the river where was a dingle like an inner room.
After dark we sat with V. at our little campfire.
It was all very beautiful — the skyful of tropical
stars, the silhouette of the forest shutting them out,
the velvet blackness of the jungle flickering with
fireflies, the purer outlines of the hilltops and dis-
tant mountains to the left, the porters' tiny fires
before the little white tents; and in the distance,
from the direction of V.'s boma, the irregular throb
of the dance drum and the occasional snatch of
barbaric singing borne down on the night wind
from where his Wakambas were holding an ri'goma.
A pair of ibis that had been ejected when we madecamp contributed intermittent outraged and raucous
squawks from the tiptop of some neighbouring tree.
309
XXXIX
NOTES ON THE MASAI
IT IS in no way my intention to attempt a com-
prehensive description of this unique people.
My personal observation is, of course, inadequate
to that task, and the numerous careful works on
the subject are available to the interested reader.
The southern branch of the race, among whomwe were now travelling, are very fine physically.
Men close to seven feet in height are not at all
uncommon, and the average is well above six. They
are strongly and lithely made. Their skins are a
red-brown or bronze, generally brought to a high
state of polish by liberal anointing. In feature
they resemble more the Egyptian or Abyssinian than
the negro cast of countenance. The women are tall
and well formed, with proud, quaintly quizzical
faces. Their expressions and demeanour seem to
indicate more independence and initiative than is
usual with most savage women, but whether this is
actually so or not, I cannot say.
On this imposing and pleasing physical foundation
310
NOTES ON THE MASAI
your true Masai is content to build a very slight
superstructure of ornament. His ear-lobes are al-
ways stretched to hang down in long loops, in which
small medals, ornaments, decorated blocks of wood,
or the like, are inserted. Long heavy ovals of
ivory, grooved to accommodate the flesh loop, very
finely etched in decorative designs, are occasionally
worn as "stretchers." Around the neck is a slender
iron collar, and on the arms are one or two glittering
bracelets. The sword belt is of leather heavily
beaded, with a short dangling fringe of steel beads.
Through this the short blade is thrust. When in
full-dress the warrior further sports on a garter a hol-
low iron knee bell, connected with the belt by a string
of cowrie shells or beads. Often is added a curious
triangular strip of skin fitting over the chest, and
reaching about to the waist. A robe or short cloak
of short-haired sheepskin is sometimes carried for
warmth, but not at all for modesty. The weapons
are a long narrow bladed heavy spear, the buffalo
hide shield, the short sword, and the war club or
runga. The women are always shaven-headed, wear
voluminous robes of soft leather; and carry a great
weight of heavy wire wound into anklets and stock-
ings, and brought to a high state of polish. So
extensive are these decorations that they really form
a sort of armour, with breaks only for the elbow and
3"
AFRICAN CAMP FIRES
the knee joints. The married women wear also a
great outstanding collar.
The Masai are pastoral, and keep immense herds
and flocks. Therefore they inhabit the grazing
countries; and are nomadic. Their villages are in-
variably arranged in a wide circle, the low huts of
mud and wattles facing in. The spaces between the
huts are filled in with thick dense thorn brush, thus
enclosing a strong corral, or boma. These villages
are called manyattas. They are built by the womenin an incredibly brief space of time. Indeed, an
overchief stopping two days at one place had been
known to cause the construction of a complete vil-
lage, to serve only for that period. He then moved
on, and the manyatta was never used again! Never-
theless these low rounded huts, in shape like a loaf
of bread, give a fictitious impression of great strength
and permanency. The smooth and hardened mudresembles masonry or concrete work. As a matter
of fact it is the thinnest sort of a shell over plaited
withes. The single entrance to this compound maybe closed by thorn bush so that at night, when the
lions are abroad, the Masai and all his herds dwell
quite peaceably and safely inside the boma. Twelve
to twenty huts constitute a village.
When the grass Is fed down the village moves
to a new location. There is some regulation to this,
312
NOTES ON THE MASAI
determined by the overchiefs, so that one village
does not interfere with another. Beside the few
articles of value or of domestic use, the only things
carried away from an old village are the strongly
woven shield-shaped doors. These are strapped
along the flanks of the donkeys, while the other
goods rest between. A donkey pack, Masai fashion,
is a marvellous affair that would not stay on ten
minutes for a white man.
The Masai perform no agriculture whatever,
nor will they eat game meat. They have no de-
sire for any of the white man's provisions except
sugar. In fact their sole habitual diet is mixed
cow's blood and milk— no fruits, no vegetables,
no grains, rarely flesh; a striking commentary
on extreme vegetarian claims. The blood they
obtain by shooting a very sharp-pointed arrow
into a neck vein of the cow. After the requisite
amount has been drained, the wound is closed
and the animal turned into the herd to recuper-
ate. The blood and milk are then shaken together
in long gourds. Certainly the race seems to
thrive on this strange diet. Only rarely, on
ceremonial occasions or when transportation is
difficult, do they eat mutton or goat flesh, but
never beef.
Of labour then, about a Masai village, it follows
313
AFRICAN CAMP FIRES
that there is practically none. The women build
the manyattas; there is no cooking, no tilling of the
soil, no searching for wild fruits. The herds have
to be watched by day and driven in at the fall of
night; that is the task of the boys and the youths
who have not gone through with the quadriennial
circumcision ceremonies and become El-morani, or
warriors. Therefore the grown men are absolutely
and completely gentlemen of leisure. In civilization,
the less men do the more important they are in-
clined to think themselves. It is so here. Socially
the Masai consider themselves several cuts above
anybody else in the country. As social superiority
lies mostly in thinking so hard enough — so that the
inner belief expresses itself in the outward attitude
and manner— the Masai carry it off. Their haugh-
tiness is magnificent. Also they can look as unsmil-
ing and bored as anybody anywhere. Consequently
they are either greatly admired; or greatly hated
and feared, as the case happens to be, by all the
other tribes. The Kikuyu young men frankly ape
the customs and ornaments of their powerful neigh-
bours. Even the British Government treats them
very gingerly indeed, and allows these economically
useless savages a latitude the more agricultural
tribes do not enjoy. Yet I submit that any people
whose property is in immense herds can more easily
314
NOTES ON THE MASAI
be brought to terms than those who have nothing
so valuable to lose.
As a matter of fact it is said the white man and
the Masai have never had it out. When the English,
a few years since, were engaged in opening the country
they carried on quite a stoutly contested little war
with the Wakamba. These people put up so good
a fight that the English anticipated a most bitter
struggle with the Masai, whose territory lay next
beyond. To their surprise the Masai made peace.
"We have watched the war with the Wakamba,"they said, in effect, "and we have seen the Wakambakill a great many of your men. But more of your
men came in always; and there were no more Wa-kamba to come in and take the places of those whowere killed. We are not afraid. If we should war
with you, we would undoubtedly kill a great many of
you, and you would undoubtedly kill a great many of
us. But there can be no use in that. We want the
ranges for our cattle; you want a road. Let us, then,
agree."
The result is that to-day the Masai look upon
themselves as an unconquered people, and bear
themselves — toward the other tribes— accordingly.
The shrewd common sense and observation evi-
denced above must have convinced them that war
now would be hopeless.
315
AFRICAN CAMP FIRES
This acute intelligence is not at all incompatible
with the rather bigoted and narrow outlook on
life inevitable to a people whose ideals are made up
of fancied superiorities over the rest of mankind.
Witness, the feudal aristocracies of the Middle Ages.
With this type the underlying theory of masculine
activity is the military. Some outlet for energy was
needed, and in war it was found. Even the ordinary
necessities of primitive agriculture and of the chase
were lacking. The Masai eats neither vegetable,
grain, nor wild game. The whole of young manhood,
then, can be spent in no better occupation than the
pursuit of warlike glory— and cows.
On this rests the peculiar social structure of the
people. In perusing the following fragmentary ac-
count the reader must first of all divest his mind of
what he would, according to white man's standards,
consider moral or immoral. Such things must be
viewed from the standpoint of the people believing
in them. The Masai are moral in the sense that
they very rigorously live up to their own customs
and creeds. Their women are strictly chaste in the
sense that they conduct no affairs outside those
permitted within the tribe. No doubt, from the
Masai point of view, we are ourselves immoral.
The small boy, as soon as he is big enough to be
responsible — and that is very early in life — is
316
NOTES ON THE MASAI
given, in company with others, charge of a flock
of sheep. Thence he graduates to the precious herds
of cows. He wears little or nothing, is armed with
a throwing club, a long stick; or perhaps later a
broad-bladed, short-headed spear of a pattern pe-
culiar to boys and young men. His life is thus over
the free open hills and veldt, until, somewhere be-
tween the ages of eighteen and twenty-one, the year
of the circumcision comes. Then he enters on the
long ceremonies that initiate him into the warrior
class. My knowledge of the details of this subject
is limited; for while I had the luck to be in Masailand
on the fourth year, such things are not exhibited
freely. The curious reader can find more on the
subject in other books; but as this is confined to
personal experiences I will tell only what I have
myself elicited.
The youth's shaved head is allowed to grow its
hair. He hangs around his brow a dangling string
of bright-coloured bird skins stuffed out in the shape
of little cylinders, so that at a short distance they
look like curls. For something like a month of
probation he wears these; then undergoes the rite.
For ten days thereafter he and his companions, their
heads daubed with clay and ashes, clad in long
black robes, live out in the brush. They have no
provision, but are privileged to steal what they need.
317
AFRICAN CAMP FIRES
At the end of the ten days they return to the man-
yattas. A three-day rCgoma, or dance, now com-
pletes their transformation to the El-morani class.
It finishes by an obscene night dance, in the course
of which the new warriors select their partners.
For ten or twelve years these young men are El-
morani. They dwell in a separate manyatta. With
them dwell promiscuously all the young unmarried
women of the tribe. There is no permanent pairing
off, no individual property, no marriage. Nor does
this constitute flagrant immorality, difficult as it maybe for us to see that fact. The institution, like all
national institutions, must have had its origin in a
very real need and a very practical expediency.
The fighting strength of the tribe must be kept up,
and by the young and vigorous stock. On the other
hand, every man of military age must be foot free
to serve in the constant wars and forays. This
institution is the means. And, mind you, unchastity
in the form of illicit intercourse outside the manyatta
of the El-morani, whether with her own or another
tribe, subjects the women to instant death.
The El-morani in full fighting rig are imposing.
They are, as I have explained, tall and of fine phy-
sique. The cherished and prized weapon is the
long, narrow-bladed spear. This is five and six feet
long, with a blade over three feet by as many inches,
318
NOTES ON THE MASAT
and with a long, iron shoe. In fact, only a bare hand-
hold of wood is provided. It is of formidable weight,
but so well balanced that a flip cast with the wrist
will drive it clear through an emeny. A short sword
and a heavy headed war club complete the offensive
weapons. The shield is of buffalo hide, oval in shape,
and decorated with a genuine heraldry, based on
genealogy. A circlet of black ostrich feathers in
some branches surrounds the face and stands high
above the head. In the southern districts the
warriors wear two single black ostrich plumes tied
one either side the head, and slanting a little back-
ward. They walk with a mincing step so that the
two feathers bob gently up and down like the waving
of the circus equestrienne's filmy skirts.
Naturally the Masai with the Zulu were the most
dreaded of all the tribes of Africa. They were
constantly raiding in all directions as far as their
sphere of operations could reach, capturing cattle
and women as the prizes of war. Now that the
white man has put a stop to the ferocious intertribal
wars the El-morani are out of a job. The military
organization is still carried on as before. What will
happen to the morals of the people it would be
difficult to say. The twelve years of imposed peace
have not been long enough seriously to deteriorate
the people; but, inevitably, complete idleness will
319
AFRICAN CAMP FIRES
tell. Either the people must change their ideals and
become industrious — which is extremely unlikely —
•
or they will degenerate.
As a passing thought, it is a curious and for-
midable fact that the prohibition of intertribal
wars and forays all through East Central Africa
has already permitted the population to increase
to a point of discomfort. Many of the districts are
becoming so crowded as to overflow. What will
happen in the long run only time can tell— famine
and pestilence probably. Only famine and pestilence
are weakening things; while war at least hardens a
nation's fibre. This is not necessarily an argument
for war. Only everywhere in the world the white
man seems with the best of intentions to be upsetting
natural balances without substituting for them. Weare better at preventing things than causing them.
At the age of thirty, or thereabout, the El-
morani becomes an Elder. He may now drink and
smoke, vices that in the Spartan days of his military
service were rigourously denied him. He may also
take a wife or wives, according to his means, and
keep herds of cattle. His wives he purchases from
their parents, the usual medium of payment being
cows or sheep. The young women who have been
living in the El-morani village are considered quite
as desirable as the young virgins. If there are
320
NOTES ON THE MASAI
children, these are taken over by the husband.
They are considered rather a recommendation than
a detriment, for they prove the girl is fruitful.
Relieved of all responsibility the ex-warrior now
has full leisure to be a gentleman. He drinks a
fermented liquor made from milk; he takes snuff or
smokes the rank native tobacco; he conducts inter-
minable diplomatic negotiations; he oversees mi-
nutely the forms of ceremonials; he helps shape the
policies of his manyatta, and he gives his attention
to the accumulation of cows.
The cow is the one thing that arouses the Masai's
full energies. He will undertake any journey, any
task, any danger, provided the reward therefor is
horned cattle. And a cow is the one thing he will
on no account trade, sell or destroy. A very few
of them he milks, and a very few of them he period-
ically bleeds; but the majority, to the numbers of
thousands upon thousands, live uselessly until they
die of old age. They are branded, generally on the
flanks or ribs, with strange large brands, and are
so constantly handled that they are tamer and more
gentle than sheep. I have seen upward of a thou-
sand head in sole charge of two old women on foot.
These ancient dames drove the beasts in a long
file to water, then turned them quite easily and
drove them back again. Opposite our camp they
321
AFRICAN CAMP FIRES
halted their charges and came to make us a long
visit. The cattle stood in their tracks until the call
was over; not one oifered even to stray off the baked
earth in search of grasses.
The Masai cattle king knows his property individ-
ually. Each beast has its name. Some of the
wealthier are worth in cattle, at settler's prices,
close to a hundred thousand dollars. They are menof importance in their own council huts, but they
lack many things dear to the savage heart simply
because they are unwilling to part with a single
head of stock in order to procure them.
In the old days forays and raids tended more or
less to keep the stock down. Since the White Man's
Peace the herds are increasing. In the country be-
tween the Mau Escarpment and the Narossara
Mountains we found the feed eaten down to the
earth two months before the next rainy season.
In the meantime the few settlers are hard put to
it to buy cattle at any price wherewith to stock
their new farms. The situation is an anomaly which
probably cannot continue. Some check will have
eventually to be devised, either limiting the cattle,
or compelling an equitable sale of the surplus. Cer-
tainly the present situation represents a sad economic
waste — of the energies of a fine race destined to
rust away, and of the lives of tens of thousands of
322
NOTES ON THE MASAI
valuable beasts brought into existence only to die
of old age. If these matchless herders and cattle
breeders could be brought into relation with the
world's markets everybody would be the better.
Beside his sacred cattle the Masai raises also
lesser herds of the hairy sheep of the country.
These he uses for himself only on the rare occasions
of solitary forced marches away from his herds, or
at the times of ceremony. Their real use is as a
trading medium— for more cattle ! Certain white
men and Somalis conduct regular trading expeditions
into Masalland, bringing in small herds of cows
bought with trade goods from the other tribes. These
they barter with the Masai for sheep. In Masai
estimation a cow is the most valuable thing on
earth, while a sheep is only a medium of exchange.
With such notions it is easy to see that the white
man can make an advantageous exchange, in spite
of the Masai's well-known shrewdness at a bargain.
Each side is satisfied. There remains only to find
a market for the sheep — an easy matter. A small
herd of cows will in the long run bring quite a decent
profit.
The Masai has very little use for white man's
products. He will trade for squares of cloth, beads
of certain kinds and in a limited quantity, brass and
iron wire of heavy gauge, blankets and sugar. That,
323
AFRICAN CAMP FIRES
barring occasional personal idiosyncrasy, is about all.
For these things he will pay also in sheep. Masai
curios are particularly difficult to get hold of. I
rather like them for their independence in that
respect. I certainly should refuse to sell my tennis
shoes from my feet merely because some casual
Chinaman happened to admire them!
The women seem to occupy a position quite satis-
factory to themselves. To be sure they do the work;
but there is not much work! They appear to be
well treated; at least they are always in good spirits,
laughing and joking with each other, and always
ready with quick repartee to remarks flung at them
by the safari boys. They visited camp freely, and
would sit down for a good lively afternoon of joking.
Their expressions were quizzical with a sly intelli-
gent humour. In spite of the apparent unabashed
freedom of their deportment they always behaved
with the utmost circumspection; nor did our boys
ever attempt any familiarity. The unobtrusive
lounging presence in the background of two warriors
with long spears may have had something to do
with this.
The Masai government is centred in an overlord
or king. His orders seem to be implicitly obeyed.
The present king I do not know, as the old king,
Lenani, has just died at an advanced age. In
324
NOTES ON THE MASAI
former days the traveller on entering Masailand
was met by a sub-chief. This man planted his
long spear upright in the ground, and the intending
traveller flung over it coils of the heavy wire. Avery generous traveller who completely covered the
spear then had no more trouble. One less lavish
was likely to be held up for further impositions as
he penetrated the country. This tax was called the
honga.
The Masai language is one of the most difficult of
all the native tongues. In fact, the white man is
almost completely unable even to pronounce manyof the words. V., who is a "Masai-man " who knows
them intimately, and who possesses their confidence,
does not pretend to talk with them in their owntongue, but employs the universal Swahili.
32s
XL
THROUGH THE ENCHANTED FOREST
WE waited at V.'s boma three days, waiting for
Cuninghame to turn up. He maintained a
little force of Wakamba, as the Masai would not take
service. The Wakamba are a hunting tribe, using both
the spear and the poisoned arrow to kill their game.
Their bows are short and powerful, and the arrows ex-
ceedingly well fashioned. The poison is made from
the wood of a certain fat tree with fruit like gigantic
bologna sausages. It is cut fine, boiled, and the
product evaporated away until only a black sticky
substance remains. Into this the point of the arrow
is dipped; and the head is then protected until
required by a narrow strip of buckskin wound around
and around it. I have never witnessed the effects
of this poison; but V. told me he had seen an eland
die in twenty-two minutes from so slight a wound in
the shoulder that it ran barely a hundred yards
before stopping. The poison more or less loses its
efficiency, however, after the sticky tarlike substance
has dried out.
326
THROUGH THE ENCHANTED FOREST
I offered a half rupee as a prize for an archery
competition, for I was curious to get a line on their
marksmanship. The bull's-eye was a piece of
typewriter paper* at thirty paces. This they
managed to puncture only once out of fifteen tries;
though they never missed it very widely. V. seemed
quite put out at this poor showing, so I suppose
they can ordinarily do better; but I imagine they
are a good deal like our hunting Indians, poor shots
but very skilful at stalking close to a beast.
Our missing porter, with the tent, was brought in
next afternoon by Kongoni, who had gone in search
of him. The man was a big, strong Kavirondo. Hewas sullen, and merely explained that he was "tired."
This excuse for a five hours' march after eight days'
rest! I fined him eight rupees, which I gave Kongoni
and ordered him twenty-five lashes. Six weeks later
he did the same trick. Cuninghame alotted him fifty
lashes and had him led thereafter by a short rope
around the neck. He was probably addicted to
opium. This was the only man to be formally kiho-
koed on the whole trip — a good testimony at once
to Cuninghame's management, the discrimination we
had used in picking them out, and the settled reputa-
tions we had by now acquired.
After Cuninghame's return we prepared to pene-
*8xio} inches.
AFRICAN CAMP FIRES
trate straight back through the great rampart of
mountains to the south and west.
We crossed the bush-grown plains, and entered a
gently rising long canon flanked on either side by
towering ranges that grew higher and higher the
farther we proceeded. In the very centre of the
mountains, apparently, this cafion ended in a small
round valley. There appeared to be no possible
exit, save by the way we had come, or over the
almost perpendicular ridges a thousand feet or
more above. Nevertheless we discovered a narrow
ravine that slanted up into the hills to the left.
Following it we found ourselves very shortly in a
great forest on the side of a mountain. Hanging
creepers brushed our faces, tangled vines hung
across our view, strange and unexpected openings
offered themselves as a means through which we
could see a little closer into the heart of mystery.
The air was cool and damp and dark. The occasional
shafts of sunlight or glimpses of blue sky served
merely to accentuate the soft gloom. Save that we
climbed always, we could not tell where we were going.
The ascent occupied a little over an hour. Then
through the tree trunks and undergrowth we caught
the skyline of the crest. When we topped this we
took a breath, and prepared ourselves for a cor-
responding descent. But in a hundred yards we
328
THROUGH THE ENCHANTED FOREST
popped out of the forest to find ourselves on a new
level. The Fourth Bench had been attained.
It was a grass country of many low, rounded hills
and dipping valleys, with fine isolated oaklike trees
here and there in the depressions, and compact,
beautiful oaklike groves thrown over the hills like
blankets. Well-kept, green, trim, intimate, it should
have had church spires and gray roofs in appropri-
ate spots. It was a refreshment to the eye after
the great and austere spaces among which we had
been dwelling, a repose to the spirit after the alert
and dangerous lands. The dark curtained forest
seemed, fancifully, an enchantment through which
we had gained to this remote smiling land, nearest
of all to the blue sky.
We continued south for two days; and then, as
the narrative will show, were forced to return. Wefound it always the same type; pleasant sleepy little
valleys winding around and between low hills
crowned with soft groves and forests. It was for
all the world like northern Surrey, or like some of
the liveoak country of California. Only this we
soon discovered: in spite of the enchantment of the
magic-protecting forest, the upper benches, too, were
subject to the spell that lies over all Africa. These
apparently little valleys were in reality the matter
of an hour's journey to cross; these rounded hills,
329
AFRICAN CAMP FIRES
to all seeming only two good golf strokes from
bottom to top, were matters of serious climbing;
these compact, squared groves of oaklike trees were
actually great forests of giants in which one could
lose one's self for days, in which roamed herds of
elephant and buffalo. It looked compact because
we could see all its constituent elements. As a
matter of fact, it was neat and tidy; only we were, as
usual, too small for it.
At the end of two hours' fast marching we had
made the distance, say, from the clubhouse to the
second hole. Then we camped in a genuinely little
grove of really small trees overlooking a green valley
bordered with wooded hills. The prospect was
indescribably delightful; a sort of Sunday-morning
landscape of groves and green grass and a feeling of
church bells.
Only down the valley, diminished by distance,
all afternoon Masai warriors, in twos and threes,
trooped by, mincing along so that their two ostrich
feathers would bob up and down, their spears held
atrail.
We began to realize that we were indeed In a new
country when our noon thermometer registered only
66, and when at sunrise the following morning it
stood at 44. To us, after eight months under the
equator, this was bitter weather!
330
XLI
NAIOKOTUKU
NEXT morning we marched on up the beautiful
valley through shoulder-high grasses wet with
dew. At the end of two hours we came to the
limit of Leyeye's knowledge of the country. It
would now be necessary to find savage guides.
Accordingly, while we made camp, Cuninghame,
with Leyeye as interpreter, departed in search of a
Masai village. So tall and rank grew the grass that
we had to clear it out as one would clear brushwood
in order to make room for our tents.
Several hours later Cuninghame returned. Hehad found a very large village, but unfortunately the
savages were engaged in a big rCgoma which could
not be interrupted by mere business. However, the
chief was coming to make a friendly call. When the
fCgoma should be finished, he would be delighted to
furnish us with anything we might desire.
Almost on the heels of this the chief arrived. Hewas a fine old savage, over six feet tall, of well
proportioned figure, and with a shrewd, intelligent
331
AFRICAN CAMP FIRES
face. The rCgoma had him, to a limited extent, for
he stumbled over tent ropes, smiled a bit uncertainly,
and slumped down rather suddenly when he had
meant to sit. However, he both stumbled, smiled,
and slumped with unassailable dignity.
From beneath his goatskin robe he produced a long
ornamented gourd from which he offered us a drink of
fermented milk. He took our refusal good-naturedly.
The gourd must have held a gallon, but he got
away with all of its contents in the course of the in-
terview; also several pints of super-sweetened coffee
which we doled out to him a little at a time, and
which he seemed to appreciate extravagantly.
Through Leyeye we exchanged the compliments of
the day, and, after the African custom, told each
other how important we were. Our visitor turned
out to be none other than the brother of Lenani, the
paramount chief of all the Masai. I forget what I
was, either the brother of King George or the nephew
of Theodore Roosevelt— the only two white menevery native has heard of. It may be that both of us
were mistaken, but from his evident authority over
a very wide district we were inclined to believe our
visitor.
We told him we wanted guides through the hills to
the southward. He promised them in a most
friendly fashion.
332
"The girl in the middle ground has painted her face white
to indicate travel"
fsasasMi^^^ ^
^'^^h^L 4
When moving the villages they take with them only
the wicker doors
NAIOKOTUKU
"I do not know the white man," said he. "I live
always in these mountains. But my brother Lenani
told me ten years ago that some day the white manwould come into my country. My brother told methat when the white man came travelling in mycountry I must treat him well, for the white man is
a good friend but a bad enemy. I have remembered
my brother Lenani's words, though they were
spoken a long time ago. The white man has been
very long in coming; but now he is here. Therefore
I have brought you milk to-day, and to-morrow I
will send you sheep; and later I will send young menwho know the hills to take you where you wish
to go."
We expressed gratification, and I presented him
with a Marble fish knife. The very thin blade and
the ingenious manner in which the two halves of
the handle folded forward over it pleased him im-
mensely.
"No one but myself shall ever use this knife,"
said he.
He had no pockets, but he tucked it away in his
armpit, clamped the muscles down over it, and
apparently forgot it. At least he gave it no further
attention, used his hands as usual, but retained it
as securely as in a pocket.
"To-morrow," he promised at parting, "very
333
AFRICAN CAMP FIRES
early in the morning, I will send my own son and
another man to guide you; and I will send a sheep
for your meat."
We arose "very early," packed our few affairs,
picked out four porters — and sat down to wait.
Our plan was to cruise for five days with as light and
mobile an outfit as possible, and then to return for
fresh supplies. Billy would take charge of the main
camp during our absence. As advisers we left her
Abba Ali, Memba Sasa, and Mohamet.
At noon we were still waiting. The possibility of
doing a full day's journey was gone, but we thought
we might at least make a start. At one o'clock,
just as we had about given up hope, the Masai
strolled in. They were beautiful, tall, straight
youths, finely formed, with proud features and a
most graceful carriage. In colour they were as
though made of copper bronze, with the same glitter
of high lights from their fine-textured skins. Even
in this chilly climate they were nearly naked. One
carried a spear; the other a bow and arrow.
Joyously we uprose — and sat down again. Wehad provided an excellent supply of provisions for
our guides; but on looking over the lot they dis-
covered nothing, absolutely nothing, that met their
ideas.
"What ^0 they want .'"'we asked Leyeye in despair.
334
NAIOKOTUKU
"They say they will eat nothing but sheep," he
reported.
We remembered old Naiokotuku's promise of
sending us sheep, sneered cynically at the faith of
savages, and grimly set forth to see what we could
buy in the surrounding country. But we wronged
the old man. Less than a mile from camp we met
men driving in as presents not one, but two, sheep.
So we abandoned our shopping tour and returned to
camp. By the time one of the sheep had been madeinto mutton it was too late to start. The Masai
showed symptoms of desiring to go back to the
village for the night. This did not please us. Wecalled them up, and began extravagantly to admire
their weapons, begging to examine them. Once we
had them in our hands we craftily discoursed as
follows:
"These are beautiful weapons, the most beautiful
we have ever seen. Since you are going to spend
the night in our camp, and since we greatly fear
that some of our men might steal these beautiful
weapons, we will ourselves guard them for you
carefully from theft until morning."
So saying, we deposited them inside the tent.
Then we knew we had our Masai safe. They would
never dream of leaving while the most cherished of
their possessions were in hostage.
335
XLII
SCOUTING IN THE ELEPHANT FOREST
HERE we were finally ofi" at dawn. It was a very
chilly, wet dawn, with the fog so thick that we
could see not over ten feet ahead. We had four
porters carrying about twenty-five pounds apiece of
the bare necessities, Kongoni, and Leyeye. The
Masai struck confidently enough through the mist.
We crossed neck-deep grass flats — where we were
thoroughly soaked — climbed hills through a forest,
skirted apparently for miles an immense reed
swamp. As usual when travelling strange coun-
try in a fog, we experienced that queer feeling of
remaining in the same spot while fragments of
nearby things are slowly paraded by. When at
length the sun's power cleared the mists, we found
ourselves in the middle of a forest country of high
hills.
Into this forest we now plunged, threading our
way here and there where the animal trails would
take us, looking always for fresh elephant spoor.
It would have been quite impossible to have moved
336
SCOUTING IN THE ELEPHANT FOREST
about In any other fashion. The timber grew on
side hills, and was very lofty and Impressive; and the
tropical undergrowth grew tall, rank and impene-
trable. We could proceed only by means of the
kind assistance of the elephant, the buffalo and the
rhinoceros.
Elephant spoor we found, but none made later
than three weeks before. The trails were broad,
solid paths through the forest, as ancient and beaten
as though they had been in continuous use for years.
Unlike the rhino and buffalo trails, they gave us
head room and to spare. The great creatures had by
sheer might cut their way through the dense, tough
growth, leaving twisted, splintered, wrecked jungle,
behind them, but no impediment.
By means of these beautiful trails we sneaked
quietly, penetrating farther and farther into the
jungle. Our little procession of ten made no noise.
If we should strike fresh elephant tracks, thus would
we hunt them, with all our worldly goods at our
backs, so that at night we could camp right on the
trail.
The day passed almost without incident. Once
a wild crash and a snort told of a rhinoceros, in-
visible, but very close. We huddled together, our
rifles ready, uncertain whether or not the animal
would burst from the leafy screen at our very faces.
337
AFRICAN CAMP FIRES
The Masai stood side by side, the long spear poised,
the bow bent, fine, tense figures in bronze.
Near sundown we found ourselves by a swift little
stream in the bottom of a deep ravine. Here weleft the men to make camp, and ourselves climbed a
big mountain on the other side. It gave us a look
abroad over a wilderness of hills, forested heavily,
and a glimpse of the land-fall far away where no
white man had ever been. This was as far south as
we were destined to get, though at the time we did
not know it. Our plan was to push on two days
more. Near the top of the ridge we found the
unmistakable tracks of the bongo. This is in-
teresting to zoologists in that it extends the south-
ward range of this rare and shy beast.
Just at dark we regained our camp. It was built
California fashion — for the first and last time in
Africa: blankets spread on canvas under the open sky
and a gipsy fire at our feet, over which I myself
cooked our very simple meal. As we were smoking
our pipes in sleepy content, Leyeye and the two
Masai appeared for a shauri. Said the Masai:
"We have taken you over the country we know.
There are elephants there sometimes, but there are
no elephants there now. We can take you farther,
and if you wish us to do so, we will do so; but we
know no more of the country than you do. But
338
SCOUTING IN THE ELEPHANT FOREST
now if we return to the manyatta to-morrow, we can
march two hours to where are some Wanderobo;
and the Wanderobo know this country and will take
you through it. If it pleases you, one of us will go
get the Wanderobo, and the other will stay with you
to show good faith."
We rolled our eyes at each other in humorous
despair. Here at the very beginning of the recon-
naissance we had run against the stone wall of
African indirectness and procrastination. Andjust as we thought we had at last settled every-
thing!
"Why," we inquired, "were not the Wanderobo
sent at first, instead of yourselves?"
"Because," they replied with truly engaging
frankness, "our chief, Naiokotuku, thought that
perhaps we might find elephant here in the country
we know; and then we should get for ourselves all the
presents you would give for finding elephant. But
the elephant are not here now; so the Wanderobo
will get part of the present."
That was certainly candid. After some further
talk we decided there was no help for it; we must
return to camp for a new start.
At this decision the Masai brightened. Theyvolunteered to set off early with Leyeye, to push
ahead of us rapidly, and to have the Wanderobo in
339
AFRICAN CAMP FIRES
camp by the time we reached there. We concealed
somewhat cynical smiles, and agreed.
The early start was made, but when we reached
camp we found, not the Wanderobo, but Leyeye and
the Masai huddled over a fire. This was exasperat-
ing, but we could not say much. After all, the whole
matter was no right of ours, but a manifestation of
friendship on the part of Naiokotuku. In the early
afternoon the sky cleared, and the ambassadors de-
parted, promising faithfully to be back before we
slept. We spent the day writing and in gazing at
the vivid view of the side hill, the forest, and the
distant miniature prospect before us. Finally we
discovered what made it in essence so strangely
familiar. In vividness and clarity, even in the
crudity of its tones, it was exactly like a coloured
photograph
!
Of course the savages did not return that evening,
nor did we really expect them. Just as a matter of
form we packed up the next morning, and sat down
to wait. Shortly before noon Leyeye and the Masai
returned, bringing with them two of the strange, shy,
forest hunters.
But by this time we had talked things over
thoroughly. The lure of the greater kudu was re-
gaining the strength it had lost by a long series of
disappointments. We had not time left for both
340
SCOUTING IN THE ELEPHANT FOREST
a thorough investigation of the forests and a raid
in the dry hills of the west after kudu. Mavrouki
said he knew of a place where that animal ranged.
So we had come to a decision.
We called the Masai and Wanderobo before us.
They squatted in a row, their spears planted before
them. We sat in canvas chairs. Leyeye, standing,
translated. The affair was naturally of the great-
est deliberation. In the indirect African manner we
began our shauri.
We asked one simple question at a time, dealing
with one simple phase of the subject. This phase
we treated from several different points of view, in
order to be absolutely certain that it was understood.
To these questions we received replies in this
manner:
Yes, the Wanderobo told us, they knew the forest;
they knew how to go about in the forest; they
understood how to find their way in the forest.
They knew the elephant; they had seen the elephant
many times in the forest; they knew where the
elephant ranged in the forest — and so on through
every piece of information we desired. It is the
usual and only sure way of questioning natives.
Thus we learned that the elephant range extended
south through the forests for about seven days'
travel; that at this time of year the beasts might be
341
AFRICAN CAMP FIRES
anywhere on that range. This confirmed our de-
cision. Then said we to Leyeye:
"Tell the Masai that the hwana rtCkuhwa is most
pleased with them, and that he is pleased with the
way they have worked for him, and that he is pleased
with the presents they have brought him. Tell them
that he has no goods here with him, but that he has
sent men back to the boma of bwana Kingozi* for
blankets and wire and cloth, and when those men
return he will make a good present to these Masai
and to Naiokotuku, their chief.
"Tell the Wanderobo that the hwana rrCkuhwa is
pleased with them, and that he thanks them for
coming so far to tell him of the elephant, and that he
believes they have told him the truth. Tell them
the hwana nCkuhwa will not fight the elephant now,
because he has not the time, but must go to attend
to his affairs. But later, when two years have gone,
he will make another safari, and will come back
to this country, and will again ask these men to lead
him out where he can fight the elephant. And in
the meantime he will give them rupees with which
to pay their hut tax to the Government."
After various compliments the sitting rose. Then
we packed up for a few hours' march. In a short
time we passed the chief's village. He came out to
*V.'s native name — the Master with the Red Beard.
342
SCOUTING IN THE ELEPHANT FOREST
say good-bye. A copper bronze youth accompanied
him, lithe as a leopard.
"My men have told me your words," said he.
"I live always in these mountains, and my young
men will bring me word when you return. I amglad the white men have come to see me. I shall
have the Wanderobo ready to take you to fight the
elephant when you return."
He then instructed the young man to accompany
us for the purpose of bringing back the presents we
had promised. We shook hands in farewell, and so
parted from this friendly and powerful chief.
343
XLIII
THE TOPI CAMP
AT the next camp we stayed for nearly a week.
The country was charming. Mountains sur-
rounded the long ellipse, near one edge of which we
had pitched our tents. The ellipse was some ten
miles long by four or five wide, and its surface rolled
in easy billows to a narrow neck at the lower end.
There we could just make out in the far distance a
conical hill partly closing the neck. Atop the hill
was a Masai manyattaj very tiny, with indistinct
crawling red and brown blotches that meant cattle
and sheep. Beyond the hill, and through the
opening in the ellipse, we could see to another new
country of hills and meadows and forest groves. In
this clear air they were microscopically distinct. Noblue of atmosphere nor shimmer of heat blurred
their outlines. They were merely made small.
Our camp was made in the open above a tiny
stream. We saw wonderful sunrises and sunsets;
and always spread out before us was the sweep of
our plains and the unbroken ramparts that hemmed
344
THE TOPI CAMP
us in. From these mountains meandered small
stream-ways marked by narrow strips of trees and
brush; but the most of the valley was of high green
grass. Occasional ant-hills ten feet tall rose conical
from the earth; and the country was pleasingly
broken and modelled, so that one continually sur-
mounted knolls, low, round ridges, and the like. Of
such conditions are surprises made.
The elevation here was some 7,000 feet; so that
the nights were cold and the days not too warm.
Our men did not fancy this change of weather. Agood many of them came down with the fever always
latent in their systems, and others suffered with
bronchial colds.
At onetime we had down sick eleven men out of
our slender total. However, I believe in spite of
these surface symptoms, that the cold air did them
good. It certainly improved our own appetites and
staying power.
In the thirty or forty square miles of our valley
were many herds of varied game. We here, for the
first time, found the Neuman's hartebeeste. Thetype at Narossara, and even in Lengetoto, was the
common Coke's hartebeeste, so that between these
closely allied species there interposes at this point
only the barriers of a climb and a forest. These
animals and the zebra were the most plentiful of the
34S
AFRICAN CAMP FIRES
game. The zebra were brilliantly white and black,
with magnificent coats. Thompson's and Roberts'
gazelles were here in considerable numbers, eland,
Roosevelt's wildebeeste, giraffe, the smaller grass
antelopes, and a fair number of topi. In the hills we
saw buffalo signs, several cheetah, and heard manylions.
It had been our first plan that C. should return
immediately to V.'s boma after supplies, but in view
of the abundance of game we decided to wait over a
day. We much desired to get four topi; and this
seemed a good chance to carry some of them out.
Also we wished to decide for certain whether or
not the hartebeeste here was really of the Neumanvariety.
We had great luck. Over the very first hill from
camp we came upon a herd of about a dozen topi,
feeding on a hill across the way. I knocked down
the first one standing at just 250 paces. The herd
then split and broke to right and left. By shooting
very carefully and steadily I managed to kill three
more before they were out of range. The last shot
was at 325 paces. In all I fired seven shots, and hit
six times. This was the best shooting I did in
Africa— or anywhere else—and is a first-rate argu-
ment for the Springfield and the high velocity, sharp-
pointed bullet.
346
THE TOPI CAMP
Overjoyed at our luck in collecting these animals
so promptly, so near camp, and at a time so very pro-
pitious for handling the trophies, we set to the job of
skinning and cutting up. The able-bodied men all
came out from camp to carry in the meat. They
appeared grinning broadly, for they had had no meat
since leaving the Narossara. Cuninghame and I saw
matters well under way, and then went on to where I
had seen a cheetah the day before. Hardly were we
out of sight when two lions sauntered over the hill
and proceeded to appropriate the meat! The two
men in charge promptly withdrew. A moment later
a dozen porters on their way out from camp topped
the hill and began to yell at the lions. The latter
then slowly and reluctantly retreated.
We were very sorry we had not stayed. The valley
seemed populated with lions, but in general they
were, for some reason, strictly nocturnal. Daytimes
they inhabited the fastnesses of the mountain ranges.
We never succeeded in tracing them in that large and
labyrinthine country; nor at any time could we
induce them to come to kills. Either their natural
prey was so abundant that they did not fancy ready-
killed food; for, what is more likely, the cold nights
prevented the odour of the carcasses from carrying
far. We heard lions every night; and every morning
we conscientiously turned out before daybreak to
347
AFRICAN CAMP FIRES
crawl up to our bait through the wet, cold grass, but
with no results. That very night we were jerked
from a sound sleep by a tremendous roar almost in
camp. So close was it that it seemed to each of
us but just outside the tent. We came up all stand-
ing. The lion, apparently, was content with that
practical joke, for he moved off quietly. Next
morning we found where the tracks had led down to
water, not ten yards away.
We spent the rest of that day spying on the game
herds. It is fascinating work, to lie belly down on a
tall ant-hill, glasses steadied by elbows, picking out
the individual animals and discussing them low-
voiced with a good companion. Cuninghame and I
looked over several hundred hartebeeste, trying to
decide their identity. We were neither of us familiar
with the animal and had onlyrecollections of the book
distinctions. Finally I picked out one that seemed
to present the most marked characteristics — and
missed him clean at 280 yards. Then I took three
shots at 180 yards to down a second choice. The
poor shooting was forgotten, however, in our deter-
mination that this was indeed Neumanii.
A vain hunt for lions occupied all the next day.
The third morning Cuninghame started for the boma,
leaving Billy and me to look about us as we willed.
Shortly after he had departed a delegation of Masai
348
THE TOPI CAMP
came in, dressed in their best, and bearing presents
of milk. Leyeye was summoned as interpreter.
The Masai informed us that last night a lion had
leaped the thorn walls of their boma, had pressed
on through the fires, had seized a two-year-old steer,
and had dragged the beast outside. Then the pur-
suit with spears and firebrands had become too hot
for him, so that he had dropped his victim and re-
tired. They desired (a) medicine for the steer, (b)
magic to keep that lion away, (c) that I should assist
them in hunting the lion down.
I questioned them closely, and soon discovered
both that the lion must have been very bold, and
also that he had received a pretty lively reception.
Magic to keep him away seemed like a safe enough
proposition; for the chances were he would keep
himself away.
Therefore I filled a quart measure with clear water,
passed my hand across its untroubled surface— and
lo! it turned a clear bright pink!
Long-drawn exclamations of "Eigh! "Eighl"
greeted this magic, performed by means of per-
manganate crystals held between the fingers.
"With this bathe the wounds of your steer. Thensprinkle the remainder over your cattle. The lion
will not return," said I. Then reflecting that I was
to be some time in the country, and that the lion
349
AFRICAN CAMP FIRES
might get over his scare, I added: "The power of
this magic is three days."
They departed very much impressed. A little
later Memba Sasa and I followed them. The
manyatta was most picturesquely placed atop the
conical hill at the foot of the valley. From its eleva-
tion we could see here and there in the distance the
variegated blotches of red and white and black that
represented the cattle herds. Innumerable flocks of
sheep and goats, under charge of the small boys and
youths, fed nearer at hand. The low smooth-plas-
tered huts, with their abattis of thorn bush between,
crowned the peak like a chaplet. Outside it sat
a number of elders sunning themselves, and several
smiling, good-natured young women, probably the
spoiled darlings of these plutocrats. One of these
damsels spoke Swahili, so we managed to exchange
compliments. They told us exactly when and howthe lion had gone. Three nimble old gentlemen
accompanied us when we left. They were armed
with spears; and they displayed the most extra-
ordinary activity, skipping here and there across
the ravines and through the brush, casting huge
stones into likely cover, and generally making
themselves ubiquitous. However, we did not come
up with the lion.
In our clinic that evening appeared one of the
3SO
THE TOPI CAMP
men claiming to suffer from rheumatism. I sus-
pected him, and still suspect him, of malingering in
advance in order to get out of the hard work we must
soon undertake— but had no means of proving mysuspicion. However, I decided to administer asperin.
We possessed only the powdered form of the drug.
I dumped about five grains on his tongue, and was
about to proffer him the water with which to wash
it down — when he inhaled sharply! I do not know
the precise effect of asperin in the windpipe, but it
is not pleasant. The boy thought himself bewitched.
His eyes stuck out of his head; he gasped painfully;
he sank to the ground; he made desperate efforts
to bolt out into the brush. By main strength we re-
strained him, and forced him to swallow the water.
Little by little he recovered. Next night I missed
him from the clinic, and sent Abba AH in search.
The man assured Abba Ali most vehemently that
the medicine was wonderful, that every trace of
rheumatism had departed, that he never felt better
in his life, and that (important point) he was per-
fectly able to carry a load on the morrow.
3SI
XLIV
THE UNKNOWN LAND
CUNINGHAME returned the next day from
V.'s, bringing more potio and some trade
goods. We sent a good present back to Naiokotuku,
and prepared for an early start into the new country.
We marched out the lower end of our elliptical
valley toward the miniature landscape we had seen
through the opening. But before we reached it weclimbed sharp to the right around the end of the
mountains, made our way through a low pass, and
so found ourselves in a new country entirely. The
smooth, undulating green-grass plains were nowsuperseded by lava expanses grown with low bushes.
It was almost exactly like the sage-brush deserts of
Arizona and New Mexico; the same coarse sand
and lava footing, the same deeply eroded barrancas,
the same scattered round bushes dotted evenly over
the scene. We saw here very little game. Across
the way lay another range of low mountains clothed
darkly with dull green, like the chaparral-covered
coast ranges of California. In one place was a gun-
352
^ i 1' :^HH|Jl^ !!
IHHHMHIHRl. »^ *?
"We called the Masai and Wanderobo before us"
b,^ -^^r^-^/^'fev-.X^
A present from Naiokotuku
THE UNKNOWN LAND
sight pass through which we could see other distant
blue mountains. We crossed the arid plain and
toiled up through the notch pass.
The latter made very difficult footing indeed, for
the entire surface of the ground was covered with
smooth, slippery boulders and rocks of iron and
quartz. What had so smoc ched them I do not
know; for they seemed to be ill-placed for water
erosion. The boys with their packs atop found this
hard going; and we ourselves slipped and slid and
bumped in spite of our caution.
Once through the pass we found ourselves over-
looking a wide prospect of undulating thorn scrub
from which rose occasional bushy hills, solitary
buttes, and bold cliffs. It was a thick-looking
country to make a way through.
Nevertheless somewhere here dwelt the kudu, so
in we plunged. The rest of the day— and of days
to follow— we spent in picking a way through the
thorn scrub and over loose rocks and shifting stones.
A stream bed contained an occasional water hole.
Tall aloes were ablaze with red flowers. Thecountry looked arid, the air felt dry, the atmosphere
was so clear that a day's journey became — visu-
ally— but the matter of a few hours. Only rarely did
we enjoy a few moments of open travel. Most of
the time the thorns caught at us. In the mountain
353
AFRICAN CAMP FIRES
passes were sometimes broad trails of game or of the
Masai cattle. The country was harsh and dry and
beautiful with the grays and dull greens of arid-land
brush, or with the soft atmospheric tints of arid-
land distances. Game was fairly common, but
rather difficult to find. There were many buifalo,
a very few zebra, leopards, hyenas, plenty of impalla,
some sing-sing, a few eland, abundant warthog,
Thompson's gazelle, and duiker. We never lacked
for meat when we dared shoot it, but we were after
nobler game. The sheep given us by Naiokotuku
followed along under charge of the syces.
When we should have run quite out of meat, we in-
tended to eat them. We delayed too long, however.
One evening the fool boy tied them to a thorn bush;
one of them pulled back, the thorns bit, and both
broke loose and departed into the darkness. Of
course everybody pursued, but we could not re-
capture them. Ten minutes later the hyenas broke
into the most unholy laughter. We could not blame
them; the joke was certainly on us.
In passing, the cachinnations of the laughing
hyena are rather a series of high-voiced, self-con-
scious titters than laughter. They sound like the
stage idea of a lot of silly and rather embarrassed old
maids who have been accused by some rude man of
"taking notice." This call is rarely used; indeed,
354
THE UNKNOWN LAND
I never heard it but the once. The usual note Is
a sort of moaning howl, impossible to describe but
easy to recognize.
Thus we penetrated gradually deeper and deeper
into this wild country; through low mountains, over
bush-clad plains, into thorn jungles, down wide
valleys, over hill-divided plateaus. Late in the
afternoon we would make camp . Sometimes we
had good water; more often not. In the evening
the throb of distant drums and snatches of inter-
mittent wailing song rose and fell with the little
night breezes.
355
XLV
THE ROAN
OUR last camp, before turning back, we pitched
about two o'clock of one afternoon. Up to this
time we had marched steadily down wide valleys,
around the end of mountain ranges, moving from
one room to the other of this hill-divided plateau.
At last we ended on a slope that descended gently
to water. It was grown sparingly with thorn trees,
among which we raised our tents. Over against us,
and across several low swells of grass and scrub-
grown hills, was a range of mountains. Here,
Mavrouki claimed, dwelt roan antelope.
We settled down quite happily. The country
round about was full of game; the weather was cool,
the wide swoops of country, the upward fling of
mountains and buttes were much like some parts of
our great West. Almost every evening the thunder
storms made gorgeous piled effects in the distance.
At night the lions and hyenas roared or howled, and
some of the tiny fever owls impudently answered
them back.
356
THE ROAN
Various adventures came our way, some of which
have been elsewhere narrated. Here we killed the
very big buffalo that nearly got Billy.* In addition
we collected two more specimens of the Neuman's
hartebeeste, and two Chanler's reed buck.
But Mavrouki's glowing predictions as to roan
were hardly borne out by facts. According to him
the mountains sim.ply swarmed with them— he had
seen thirty-five in one day, etc. Of course we had
discounted this, but some old tracks had to a certain
extent borne out his statement.
Lunch time one day, however, found us on top of
the highest ridge. Here we hunted up a bit of shade,
and spent two hours out of the noon sun. While we
lay there the sky slowly overcast, so that when we
aroused ourselves to go on, the dazzling light had
softened. As time was getting short, we decided to
separate. Memba Sasa and Mavrouki were to go
in one direction, while Cuninghame, Kongoni and
I took the other. Before we started I remarked
that I was offering two rupees for the capture of a
roan.
We had not gone ten minutes when Kongoni
turned his head cautiously and grinned back
at us.
"My rupees," said he.
*"The Land of Footprints."
357
AFRICAN CAMP FIRES
A fine buck roan stood motionless beneath a tree
in the valley below us. He was on the other side
of the stream jungle, and nearly a mile away.
While we watched him, he lay down.
Our task now was to gain the shelter of the stream-
jungle below without being seen, to slip along it
until opposite the roan, and then to penetrate the
river jungle near enough to get a shot. Thefirst part of this contract seemed to us the most
difficult, for we were forced to descend the face of
the hill, like flies crawling down a blackboard,
plain for him to see.
We slid cautiously from bush to bush; we movedby imperceptible inches across the too numerous open
paces. About halfway down we were arrested by a
violent snort ahead. Fifteen or twenty zebra
nooning in the brush where no zebra were supposed
to be, clattered down the hill like an avalanche. Wefroze where we were. The beasts ran fifty yards,
then wheeled, and stared back up the hill, trying to
make us out. For twenty minutes all parties to
the transaction remained stock still, the zebra
staring, we hoping fervently they would decide to
go down the valley and not up it, the roan doz-
ing under his distant tree.
By luck our hopes were fulfilled. The zebra
turned down stream, walking sedately away in
3S8
THE ROAN
single file. When we were certain they had all quite
gone, we resumed our painful decsent.
At length we dropped below the screen of trees, and
could stand upright and straighten the kinks out of our
backs. But now a new complication arose. The wind,
which had been the very basis of our calculations,
commenced to chop and veer. Here It blew from
one quarter, up there on the side hill from another,
and through the bushes In quite another direction
still. Then without warning they would all shift
about. We watched the tops of the grasses through
our binoculars, hoping to read some logic into the
condition. It was now four o'clock— our stalk
had thus far consumed two hours — and the roan
must soon begin to feed. If we were going to do
anything, we must do It soon.
Therefore we crept through a very spiky, noisy
jungle to its other edge, sneaked along the edge until
we could make out the tree, and raised ourselves for
a look. Through the glass I could just make out
the roan's face stripe. He was still there!
Quite encouraged I instantly dropped down and
crawled to within range. When again I raised myhead the roan had disappeared. One of those
aggravating little side puffs of breeze had destroyed
our two hours' work.
The outlook was not particularly encouraging.
359
AFRICAN CAMP FIRES
We had no means of telling how far the animal
would go, nor into what sort of country; and the
hour was well advanced toward sunset. However,
we took up the track and proceeded to follow it as
well as we could. That was not easy, for the ground
was hard and stony. Suddenly Cuninghame threw
himself flat. Of course we followed his example.
To us he whispered that he thought he had caught a
glimpse of the animal through an opening and across
the stream bed. We stalked carefully; and found
ourselves in the middle of a small herd of topis, one
of which, half concealed in the brush, had deceived
Cuninghame. This consumed valuable time. Whenagain we had picked up the spoor it was agreed that
I was to still-hunt ahead as rapidly as I could, while
Cuninghame and Kongoni would puzzle out the
tracks as far as possible before dark.
Therefore I climbed the little rocky ridge on our
left, and walked along near its crest, keeping a
sharp lookout over the valley below; much as one
would hunt August bucks in California. After two
or three hundred yards I chanced on a short strip
of soft earth in which the fresh tracks of the roan
going up hill were clearly imprinted. I could not
without making too much noise inform the others
that I had cut in ahead of them; so I followed the
tracks as cautiously and quietly as I could. On the
360
THE ROAN
very top of the hill the roan leaped from cover fifty-
yards away, and with a clatter of rocks dashed off
down the ridge. The grass was very high, and I
could see only his head and horns, but I dropped the
front sight six inches and let drive at a guess. The
guess happened to be a good one, for he turned a
summersault seventy two yards away.
Cuninghame and Kongoni came up. The sun had
just set. In fifteen minutes it would be pitch dark.
We despatched Kongoni for help and lanterns; and
turned to on the job of building a signal fire and
skinning the trophy.
The reason for our strangely chopping wind now
became apparent. From our elevation we could
see piled thunder clouds looming up from the west.
They were spreading upward and outward in the
swift, rushing manner of tropic storms ; and I saw I
must hustle if I was to get my fire going at all. The
first little blaze was easy; and after that I had to pile
on quantities of any wood I could lay my hands to.
The deluge blotted out every vestige of daylight and
nearly drowned out my fire. I had started to help
Cuninghame with the roan, but soon found that I
had my own job cut out for me, and so went back to
nursing my blaze. The water descended in sheets.
We were immediately soaked through, and very cold.
The surface of the ground was steep and covered
361
AFRICAN CAMP FIRES
with loose round rocks; and In my continuous trips
for firewood I stumbled and slipped and ran into
thorns miserably.*
After a long interval of this the lanterns came
bobbing through the darkness, and a few moments
later the dim light revealed the shining, rain-soaked
faces of our men.
We wasted no time in the distributions of burdens.
Cuninghame with one of the lanterns brought up the
rear, while I with the other went on ahead.
Now as Kongoni had but this minute completed
the round trip to camp we concluded that he would
be the best one to give us a lead. This was a mistake.
He took us out of the hills well enough, and a good
job that was, for we could not see the length of our
arms Into the thick, rainy blackness, and we had to
go entirely by the slants of the country. But once in
the more open, sloping country, with its innumerable
bushy or wooded ravines, he began to stray. I felt
this from the first; but Kongoni insisted strongly he
was right, and in the rain and darkness we had no
way of proving him wrong. In fact I had no reason
for thinking him wrong, I only felt It. This sense
of direction is apparently a fifth wheel or extra
adjustment some people happen to possess. It has
*Six months after I had reached home one of these thorns worked its way
out of the calf of my leg.
362
THE ROAN
nothing to do with acquired knowledge, as is very
well proved by the fact that in my own case it acts
only as long as I do not think about it. As soon as I
begin consciously to consider the matter I am likely
to go wrong. Thus many, many times I have back-
tracked in the dark over ground I had traversed but
once before, and have caught myself turning out for
bushes or trees I could not see, but which my sub-
conscious memory recalled. This would happen
only when I would think of something beside the way
home. As soon as I took charge, I groped as badly
as the next man. It is a curious, and sometimes
valuable extra; but by no means to be depended
upon.
Now, however, as I was following Kongoni, this
faculty had full play; and it assured me vehemently
that we were wrong. I called Cuninghame up from
the rear for consultation. Kongoni was very positive
he was right, but as we had now been walking over an
hour, and camp should not have been more than
three miles from where we had killed the roan, we
were inclined toward my instinct. So we took the
compass direction, in order to assure consistency at
least, and struck off at full right angles to the left.
So we tramped for a long time. Every few
moments Kongoni would want another look at that
compass. It happened that we were now going due
363
AFRICAN CAMP FIRES
north; and his notion was that the needle pointed the
way to camp. We profoundly hoped that his faith
in white man's magic would not be shattered. At
the end of an hour the rain let up, and it cleared
sufficiently to disclose some of the mountain out-
lines. They convinced us that we were in the main
right; though just where, to the north, camp now
lay was beyond our power to determine. Kongoni's
detour had been rather indeterminate in direction
and distance.
The country now became very rough, in a small
way. The feeble light of our leading lantern re-
vealed only ghosts and phantoms and looming,
warning suggestions of things which the shadows
confused and shifted. Heavily laden men would
have found it difficult travelling by prosaic daylight;
but now, with the added impossibility of picking a
route ahead, we found ourselves in all sorts of
trouble. Many times we had to back out and try
again. The ghostly flickering tree shapes against
the fathomless black offered us apparently endless
aisles that nevertheless closed before us like the doors
of a trap when we attempted to enter them.
We kept doggedly to the same general northerly
direction. When you are lost, nothing Is more
foolish than to make up your mind hastily and with-
out due reflection; and nothing is more foolish
364
THE ROAN
than to change your mind once you have made it
up. That way vacillation, confusion, and disaster
lie. Should you decide, after due consideration of
all the elements of the problem, that you should go
east; then east you go, and nothing must turn you.
You may get to the Atlantic Ocean if nothing else.
And if you begin to modify your original plan, then
you begin to circle. Believe me; I know.
Kongoni was plainly skeptical, and said so until
I shut him up with some rather peremptory sarcasm.
The bearers, who had to stumble in the dark under
heavy burdens, were good-natured and joking. This
we appreciated. One can never tell whether or
not he is popular with a native until he and the
native are caught in a dangerous or disagreeable fix.
We walked two hours as in a treadmill. Then
that invaluable, though erratic, sixth sense of mine
awoke. I stopped short.
" I believe we've come far enough," I shouted back
to Cuninghame and fired my rifle.
We received an almost immediate answer from a
short distance to the left. Not over two hundred
yards in that direction we met our camp men bearing
torches, and so were escorted in triumph after a
sixteen-hour day.
36s
XLVI
THE GREATER KUDU
NEXT morning, In a joking manner, I tried to
Impress KongonI with a sense of delinquency
In not knowing better his directions, especially as
he had twice traversed the route. He declined to
be Impressed.
"It Is not the business of man to walk at night,"
he replied with dignity.
And when you stop to think of It, It certainly Is
not— In Africa.
At this camp we lingered several days. The great
prize of our journeying still lacked, and, to tell the
truth, we had about given up hope If not our efforts.
Almost we had begun to believe our friends in
Nariobi who had scoffed at the uselessness of our
quest. Always we conscientiously looked over good
kudu country, hundreds of miles of It, and always
with the same lack of result, or even of encourage-
ment. Other game we saw In plenty, of a dozen
different varieties large and small; but our five weeks'
search had thus far yielded us only the sight of the
366
THE GREATER KUDU
same old, old sign, made many months before. If
you had stood with us atop one of the mountains,
and with us had looked abroad on the countless
leagues of rolling, brush-clothed land, undulating
away In all directions over a far horizon, you must
with us have estimated as very slight the chances of
happening on the exact pin point where the kudu at
that moment happened to be feeding. For the
beast is shy, it inhabits the densest, closest mountain
cover, it possesses the keen eyesight and sense of
smell of the bush-dwelling deer and antelope, and
more than the average sense of hearing. There
are very few of him. But the chief discouragement
is that arising from his roaming tendencies. Other
rare animals are apt to "use" about one locality, so
that once the hunter finds tracks, new or old, his
game Is one of patient, skillful search. The greater
kudu, however seems in this country at least to be
a wanderer. He is here to-day, and gone to-morrow.
Systematic search seems as foolish as in the case of
the proverbial needle in the haystack. The only
method is to shift constantly, and trust to luck. One
cannot catch fish with the fly in the book, but he has
at least a chance if he keeps it on the water.
Mavroukl was the only one among us who had
the living faith that comes from having seen the
animal in the flesh. That is a curious bit of hunter
367
AFRICAN CAMP FIRES
psychology. When a man is out after a species new
to him, it is only by the utmost stretch of the im-
agination that he is able to realize that such an
animal can exist at all. He cannot prefigure It,
somehow. He generally exaggerates to himself
the difficulty of making it out, of approaching it,
of getting his shot; until at last, if he happens to
have hunted some time in vain, the beast becomes
almost mythical and unbelievable. Once he has seen
the animal, whether he gets a shot or not, all this
vanishes. The strain on faith relaxes. He knows
what to look for, and what to expect; and even if he
sees no other specimen for a month, he nevertheless
goes about the business with a certain confidence.
One afternoon we had been hunting carefully cer-
tain low mountains, and were headed for camp,
walking rather carelessly along the bed of a narrow,
open valley below the bush-covered side hills. The
sun had disappeared behind the ranges, and the dusk
of evening was just beginning to rise like a mist from
the deeps of the cafions. We had ceased hunting—it was time to hurry home — and happened not to be
talking only because we were tired. By sheerest
idle luck I chanced to look up to the densely covered
face of the mountain. Across a single tiny opening
in the tall brush five or six hundred yards away I
caught a movement. Still idly I lifted my glasses
368
THE GREATER KUDU
for a look at what I thought would prove the usual
impalla or sing-sing, and was just in time to catch the
spirals of a magnificent set of horns. It was the
greater kudu at last!
I gave a little cluck of caution; and instantly,
without question, after the African fashion, the three
men ahead of me sank to the ground. Cuninghame
looked at me inquiringly. I motioned with my eyes.
He raised his glasses for one look.
"That's the fellow," he said quietly.
The kudu, as though he had merely stepped into
the opening to give us a sight of him, melted into
the brush.
It was magnificent and exciting to have seen this
wonderful beast after so long a quest, but by the
same token it was not very encouraging for all that.
If we had had all the daylight we needed, and un-
limited time, it would have been quite a feat to stalk
the wary beast in that thick, noisy cover. Now it
was almost dark, and would be quite dark within the
half hour. The kudu had moved out of sight.
Whether he had gone on some distance, or whether
he still lingered near the edge of the tiny opening was
another matter to be determined, and to be deter-
mined quickly.
Leaving KongonI and Mavrouki, Cuninghame and
I wriggled pantingly up the hill, as fast and at the
369
AFRICAN CAMP FIRES
same time as cautiously as we could. At the edge
of the opening we came to a halt, belly down, and
began eagerly to scrutinize the brush across the way.
If the kudu still lingered we had to find it out before
we ventured out of cover to take up his trail. Inch
by inch we scrutinized every possible concealment.
Finally Cuninghame breathed sharp with satisfaction.
He had caught sight of the tip of one horn. With some
difficulty he indicated to me where. After staring
long enough, we could dimly make out the kudu him-
self browsing, from the tender branch-ends.
All we could do was to lie low. If the kudu fed on
out of sight into the cover, we could not possibly
get a shot; if he should happen again to cross the
opening, we would get a good shot. No one but a
hunter can understand the panting, dry-mouthed
excitement of those minutes; five weeks' hard work
hung in the balance. The kudu did neither of
these things; he ceased browsing, took three steps
forward, and stood.
The game seemed blocked. The kudu had evidently
settled down for a snooze; it was impossible, in the
situation, to shorten the distance without being
discovered; the daylight was almost gone; we could
make out no trace of him except through our glasses.
Look as hard as we could, we could see nothing with
the naked eye. Unless something happened within
370
THE GREATER KUDU
the next two minutes we would bring nothing into
camp but the memory of a magnificent beast. Andnext day he would probably be Inextricably lost In
the wilderness of mountains.*
It was a time for desperate measures, and, to Cun-
inghame's evident anxiety,! took them. Through the
glasses the mane of the kudu showed as a dim gray
streak. Carefully I picked out two twigs on a bush
fifteen feet from me and a tuft of grass ten yards on,
all of which were In line with where the shoulder of
the kudu ought to be. Then I lowered my glasses.
The gray streak of the kudu's mane had disappeared
In the blending twilight; but I could still see the tips
of the twigs and the tuft of grass. Very carefully I
aligned the sights with these; and, with a silent prayer
to the Red Gods, loosed the bullet Into the darkness.
At the crack of the rifle the kudu leaped Into plain
sight.
"Hit!" rasped Cunlnghame in great excitement.
I did not wait to verify this, but fired four times
more as fast as I could work the bolt. Three of the
bullets told. At the last shot he crumpled and came
rolling down the slope. We both raised a wild
whoop of triumph, which was answered at once by
the expectant gunbearers below.
The finest trophy in Africa was ours!
*Trailing for any distance was impossible on account of the stony soil.
XLVII
THE MAGIC PORTALS CLOSE
IT seemed hopeless to try for a picture. Never-
theless I opened wide my lens, steadied the
camera, and gave it a half second. The result was
fairly good. So much for a high grade lens. Wesent Kongoni in to camp for help, and ourselves
proceeded to build up the usual fire for signal and
for protection against wild beasts. Then we sat
down to enjoy the evening, while Mavrouki skinned
the kudu.
We looked abroad over a wide stretch of country.
Successive low ridges crossed our front, each of a
different shade of slate gray from its neighbours;
and a gray half-luminous mist filled the valley
between them. The edge of the world was thrown
sharp against burnished copper. After a time the
moon rose.
Memba Sasa arrived before the lanterns, out of
breath, his face streaming with perspiration. Poor
Memba Sasa ! this was almost the only day he had not
followed close at my heels, and on this day we had
372
THE MAGIC PORTALS CLOSE
captured the Great Prize ! No thought of that seemed
to affect the heartiness of his joy. He rushed up to
shake both my hands; he examined the kudu with an
attention that was held only by great restraint; he
let go that restraint to shake me again enthusiasti-
cally by the hands. After him, up the hill, bobbed
slowly the lanterns. The smiling bearers shouldered
the trophy and the meat; and we stumbled home
through the half shadows and the opalescences of
the moonlight.
Our task in this part of the country was now
finished. We set out on the return journey. The
weather changed. A beautiful, bright-copper sun-
set was followed by a drizzle. By morning this had
turned into a heavy rain. We left the topi camp to
which we had by now returned, cold and miserable.
Cuninghame and I had contributed our waterproofs
to protect the precious trophies; and we were speedily
wet through. The grass was long. This was no
warm and grateful tropical rain; but a driving, chill-
ing storm straight out from the high mountains.
We marched up the long plain, we turned to the
left around the base of the ranges, we mounted the
narrow grass valley, we entered the forest— the
dark, dripping, and unfriendly forest. Over the edge
we dropped and clambered down through the hang-
ing vines and the sombre trees. By and by we
373
AFRICAN CAMP FIRES
emerged on the open plains below, the plains on the
hither side of the Narossara, the Africa we had
known so long. The rain ceased. It was almost
as though a magic portal had clicked after us. Be-
hind it lay the wonderful secret upper country of
the unknown.
374
XLVIII
THE LAST TREK
SOME weeks later we camped high on the slopes
of Suswa, the great mountain of the Rift Val-
ley, only one day's march from the railroad. After
the capture of the kudu Africa still held for us
various adventures — a buffalo, a go of fever, and
the like— but the culmination had been reached.
We had lingered until the latest moment, reluctant
to go. Now in the gray dawn we were filing down
the slopes of the mountains for the last trek. A low,
flowing mist marked the distant Kedong; the flames
of an African sunrise were revelling in the eastern
skies. All our old friends seemed to be bidding us
good-bye. Around the shoulder of the mountains
a lion roared, rumble upon rumble. Two hyenas
leaped from the grass, ran fifty yards, and turned to
look at us.
"Good-bye, simba! good-bye, ficeT^ we cried to
them sadly.
A little farther we saw zebra, and the hartebeeste,
and the gazelles. One by one appeared and disap-
375
AFRICAN CAMP FIRES
peared again the beasts with which we had grown
so familiar during our long months in the jungle. So
remarkable was the number of species that we both
began to comment upon the fact, to greet the
animals, to say them farewell, as though they were
reporting orderly from the jungle to bid us godspeed.
Half in earnest we waved our hands to them and
shouted our greetings to them in the native — punda
milia, kongoni, pa-a, fice, rrCpofu, twiga, simba,
rCgrooui, and the rest. Before our eyes the misty
ranges hardened and stiffened under the fierce sun.
Our men marched steadily, cheerfully, beating their
loads in rhythm with their safari sticks, crooning
under their breaths and occasionally breaking into
full-voiced chant. They were glad to be back from
the long safari, back from across the Thirst, from
the high, cold country, from the dangers and discom-
forts of the unknown. We rode a little wistfully,
for these great plains and mysterious jungles,
these populous, dangerous, many-voiced nights,
these flaming, splendid dawnings and day-falls, these
fierce, shimmering noons we were to know no more.
Two days we had In Nairobi before going to the
coast. There we paid off and dismissed our men,
giving them presents according to the length and
faithfulness of their service. They took them and
departed, eagerly, as was natural, to the families and
376
THE LAST TREK
the pleasures from which they had been so long
separated. Mohamet said good-bye, and went, and
was sorry; Kongoni departed, after many, and
sincere protestions; quiet little Mavrouki came back
three times to shake hands again, and disappeared
reluctantly — but disappeared; Leyeye went; AbbaAli followed the service of his master, Cuninghame;
"Timothy" received his present—In which he was
disappointed— and departed with salaams. Only
Memba Sasa remained. I paid him for his long
service, and I gave him many and rich presents, and
bade farewell to him with genuine regret and
affection.
Memba Sasa had wives and a farm near town,
neither of which possessions he had seen for a very
long while. Nevertheless he made no move to see
them. When our final interview had terminated
with the usual ^^hassl" (It is finished) he shook
hands once more and withdrew, but only to take his
position across the street. There he squatted on his
heels, fixed his eyes upon me, and remained. I
went downtown on business. Happening to glance
through the office window I caught sight of MembaSasa, again across the street, squatted on his heels,
his gaze fixed unwaveringly on my face. So it was
for two days. When I tried to approach him, he
glided away, so that I got no further speech with him;
377
AFRICAN CAMP FIRES
but always, quietly and unobtrusively, he returned
to where he could see me plainly. He considered
that our interview had terminated our official
relations, but he wanted to see the last of the bzvana
with whom he had journeyed so far.
One makes many acquaintances as one knocks
about the world; and once in a great many moons
one finds a friend — a man the mere fact of whose
existence one is glad to realize, whether one ever
sees him again or not. These are not many, and
they are of various degree. Among them I am glad
to number this fierce savage. He was efficient, self-
respecting, brave, staunch, and loyal with a great
loyalty. I do not think I can better end this book
than by this tribute to a man whose opportunities
were not many, but whose soul was great
THE END
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